Does Your School Really Know What You
Do?:
Classification and Compensation of Campus NMC Staff
David Herrington, Princeton University
Andrew Bonamici, University of Oregon

May 31, 2001
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Overview of job categories and classification systems
Multimedia positions in the campus context
Tips for working with your Human
Resources office
Using administrative processes to educate campus leaders and market multimedia services
NMC2001.ppt

May 31, 2001
Overview of job categories and classification systems
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Classification system:
• Used to organize and define different types of work when organizations have large numbers of diverse jobs.
• A "matrix of relative value" used as a basis for establishing and maintaining pay rates
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Classification specification :
• generic document that describes the level of work to be performed and not the specific content of any given job.
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Position:
• a single job defined by a written position description in which the unique assigned duties are clearly delineated.
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May 31, 2001
Overview of job categories and classification systems (continued)
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Analysis of a position for allocation to a class:
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• based on the preponderance of assigned duties
“Incumbent neutral;” e.g. based on the role and function of the position within the department rather than the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the current incumbent
• Relies on "benchmark" jobs, comparable positions, and precedent, in addition to classification specifications
Source: http://hr.uoregon.edu/classification-compensation/class-facts.html
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May 31, 2001
Example: Oregon University System:
Broad categories:
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Officers of Instruction (Teaching/Research Faculty :
• Tenured & tenure-track faculty with academic rank
Officers of Administration (Administrative Faculty)
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• with academic rank: includes librarians and some media professionals with positions requiring graduate degrees without rank: includes supervisors, managers, and some media professionals with positions that do not require graduate degrees
Union-represented support staff
Union-represented Graduate Teaching Fellows
Student assistants
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Example: Oregon University System
(continued)
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Formal classification system for union-represented support staff includes over 300 classes. Examples relevant to media
& multimedia field include:
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Information Technology Consultant 1 - 3
Graphic Artist 1 – 3
Videographer 1-2
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May 31, 2001
Multimedia positions in the campus context
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Range of positions will vary by broad category as well as formal classification. Examples (UO):
Senior leaders : faculty or administrative employees with appointments comparable to department heads or program directors.
• First NMC director at the UO also served as a Tenured
Professor of Fine Arts
• Current Director is a major department head in the
Library.
Project Managers reporting to the Director: recruited as managerial staff due to supervisory responsibilities
Non-supervisory: production staff, administrative assistants are recruited as classified staff represented by bargaining unit
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May 31, 2001
Tips for working with your campus
Human Resources office
Educate the HR staff:
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NMC programs are relatively new, and the technologies and activities changing rapidly
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Campus HR professionals have broad knowledge of many fields and are “quick studies” in learning about new ones
HR staff do not have a practitioner’s deep understanding of specific technologies and processes involved in multimedia development
Provide adequate detail in draft position descriptions
Provide a tour and demonstration!
A Story:
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May 31, 2001
Tips for working with your campus
Human Resources office (continued)
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Help identify relevant comparator positions.
What other campus units employ staff with campus with multimedia duties? Examples:
• graphic artists
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• webmasters instructional designers instructional media specialists courseware support staff
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Tips for working with your campus
Human Resources office (continued)
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Places to look for comparators:
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 schools, colleges, academic departments instructional media centers computing centers
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 libraries teaching effectiveness & instructional development programs
 administrative units such as campus publications or
PR/Marketing
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Tips for working with your campus
Human Resources office (continued)
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Understand the HR Officer’s perspective regarding the external job market.
In order to maintain a consistent and equitable campuswide employment system, HR needs to base classification decisions on internal comparators
Due to entrenched low salaries in the educational sector, this can create challenging recruitment problems
This problem is not unique to multimedia groups but is shared by libraries, IT units, and a number of academic disciplines
If low salaries are creating severe recruitment problems, document them
Comparative data from higher education is crucial (for example, David’s NMC salary survey)
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May 31, 2001
Tips for working with your campus
Human Resources office (continued)
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Raise staffing issues as an agenda item in campuswide educational technology committees and other relevant interest groups. Invite HR staff to these sessions.
Stay in touch with HR staff regarding collective bargaining schedules, re-writes of classification series, etc. Offer to review class specs.
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May 31, 2001
Using administrative processes to educate campus leaders and market multimedia services
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Use campus listservs to raise questions and solicit involvement of other media, technology, and information professionals on campus
Administrative processes provide opportunities to describe current projects and activities to campus leaders and administrators - this can allow for some subtle marketing.
Become familiar with efforts of national organizations such as EDUCAUSE and ARL to raise awareness of salary issues and recruitment/retention challenges in higher education
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May 31, 2001
Wrap-Up
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Ask campus HR staff for an overview of your institution’s classification system
Learn as much as possible about the job categories and classifications most relevant to NMC services and related activities
Be sensitive to campus context when designing positions and establishing salaries.
Administrative processes can create opportunities to inform campus leaders about NMC services -- take advantage of them.
Collaborate with other media, technology, and information professionals to identify and resolve shared concerns about classification, compensation, recruitment, and retention
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May 31, 2001
Contact Information
Andrew R. Bonamici
Associate University Librarian for Administrative Services
115D Knight Library, University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon 97403-1299 USA bonamici@oregon.uoregon.edu
voice (541) 346-2682 fax (541) 346-3485 http://libweb.uoregon.edu
http://nmc.uoregon.edu/
Slideshow URL: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~bonamici/NMC/NMC2001.html
NMC2001.ppt