Faculty Senate FAQ

Questions Submitted from 3/24/22 Faculty Senate Meeting

Responses provided by Segal Consulting and WKU Human Resources

*Questions reflect format submitted via Qualtrics Survey

The tiers reflect groupings of academic disciplines (based on CIP code) with similar market values within each rank
The market values were determined using the custom higher education peer group and the CUPA-HR Faculty Salary Survey, which reports data by rank and academic discipline

How does a position move from Tier 1 to Tier 3?

Individual disciplines will be reviewed on a regular basis (typically in conjunction with market data updates conducted by WKU HR and Academic Affairs)
Any changes to tier will be based on market data and/or recruitment and retention concerns

I assume we will also see a longer more detailed report that lists exactly each discipline is in each tier. As part of transparency.

A listing of faculty disciplines by tier are available here.

Is there a key for the CIP codes used for each tier?

A listing of faculty disciplines by tier are available here.

Are years of service taken into consideration?

Typically years in rank are taken into consideration, not years of service, as market data are dependent on time in rank more so than total years of service at an institution.

In the interests of transparency that has been emphasized thus far in presentation. And just to make sure we are clear, the minimum is 80% of the average paid to a new person in that rank?

The minimum of the salary ranges are set at 80% of the midpoint. Midpoint is currently aligned to 90% of the market median.

Could you expand how the compression issue has been addressed?

The first phase of implementation addressed progress toward salary range minimums. Future phases will review compression issues within the salary ranges

So, the goal is to be below the median?

The long-term goal is market median. Given the size of some of the market gaps, a shorter-term goal is 90% of the market median in aggregate. As implementation progresses, the market target will be re-evaluated and adjusted.

Why are we not doing this analysis by department? Instead of grouping into 3 broad categories?

A broader group of higher education comparators was developed to provide consistency across WKU for the market analysis. Disciplines that had similar market rates were then grouped together into tiers. The resulting structure is wide enough to absorb any flexibility needed by department.

Are the employees affected spread evenly across the tiers?

For the first phase, the impacted employees are largely in the Professor rank/tiers. Impacted employees will differ by implementation phase based on specific implementation plans/goals.

If WKU wants to attract and retain the best talents, wouldn't it be important to take into consideration cost of living in the country and in this town, which has increased significantly?

Cost of Labor (i.e., cost of talent and variability in pay based on geographic impacts in talent supply and demand) have been factored into the study; Cost of Living is not typically a driving factor in compensation studies given the variability in living expenses across individuals.

So we can expect that within five years WKU will bring people up to 90% of the median for their time in rank?

The long-term implementation goals are dependent on many factors, including the availability of funding.

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