Jobs whose major responsibilities and requirements are clear, consistent and common in the market. Data is widely available for these jobs, generally from salary surveys. Benchmark jobs are used in the Career Path Modernization project as anchors to help ensure all University jobs are assigned appropriately in the new job structure. As an example, once the placement of our existing Staff Accountant role is identified, it becomes easier to determine the placement of our Junior and Senior level Accountant roles.

The growth or trajectory an employee can take in their career. Career paths are important for employees to plan their future, enhance their skills and knowledge to master their current jobs, or identify paths for transfers, promotions and other movement. CPM will empower employees by creating an understandable job structure that clearly articulates career path opportunities.

Component of the job structure that represents career types within the University, characterized by distinct responsibilities. Some examples of career streams may be Clinical, Support, Professional and Management. Career streams – in conjunction with job level, job family and job sub-family – help provide clarity on how employees can develop and progress in the organization in alignment with the organization’s needs.

An analysis of an organization’s compensation plans, programs, philosophy and competitive position.

A formal statement defining the guiding principles of an organization’s position on employee compensation. It explains the rationale behind employee pay and creates a framework for consistent pay.

The objective process of analyzing each individual position and establishing and assigning it to the right job profile within our job structure. The job evaluation process considers factors such as what the responsibilities of the role are, its relationship to other jobs, the skills needed, and more.

An organizational function composed of distinct, yet related, disciplines or departments (e.g., Finance, Clinical, Academic & Student Services, etc.).

Hierarchical position of jobs in the job structure based on incremental differences in job leveling factors.

The criteria used to determine the appropriate job level for a job within the job structure, including:

Organizational Impact – Nature and scope of influence a job has on its area of responsibility.

Communication & Influence – Nature of communication a job is responsible for, and the level of influence required.

Innovation & Complexity – Degree to which a job needs to identify and devise solutions to problems and the level of autonomy to make decisions.

Leadership & Talent Management – Responsibility for people development, including supervision, training, coaching and performance management.

Knowledge & Experience – Level of expertise required to fulfill job responsibilities as defined by minimum levels of formal education and/or work experience.

Sub-groups within a job family that share more specific job requirements and skills (e.g. Finance sub-families might include Accounting, Financial Planning & Budgeting and Payroll & Tax).

The catalog of jobs available within an organization.

Reflects core responsibilities and qualifications of a job that are common across departments. Profiles guide the organization of jobs into a job structure, providing a foundation for compensation analysis, equity and career pathing. Job profiles are more generic than position descriptions. Previously referred to as a generic job description.

A system which organizes jobs into groups that share common functional responsibilities and similar types of education, experience and skill requirements. Creating a modern, relevant job structure is at the heart of CPM.

An official title that describes a role, its responsibilities and level within an organization.

Guidelines that provide consistent titles for positions based upon duties and responsibilities. Consistent titling supports the organization’s ability to accurately identify and assess jobs for similarity in function, level and accountability. It is a key factor in supporting employee identification of career paths and job opportunities.

The process that occurs following job structure creation in order to assign individual job profiles to the new job structure.

To attract and retain the best talent, the University competes for talent in multiple markets, among differing industry sectors, in different geographical locations, and with different types of employers. This includes public and private universities, comparable medical centers and teaching hospitals, comparable research institutions, and other for-profit and not-for-profit industries. The relevant market for each position is defined differently and depends on a number of factors, such as skills needed, priority of the role and candidate pool.

The process of identifying the appropriate markets, factors and guidelines to use when matching jobs to the market by identifying comparable jobs in compensation surveys.

Refers to the salary that employers pay employees for comparable roles. The University defines its market as the institutions with which we compete for talent, including but not limited to public and private universities, top medical centers and teaching hospitals, top research institutions, and other for-profit and not-for-profit industries.

Jobs that do not have widely-available salary data, often because they are unique to the University and therefore uncommon in the market. Alternatively, non-benchmark jobs may be part of a progression of jobs, such as jobs in a I, II, III, IV progression, in which some of the jobs are benchmark jobs to act as a preliminary reference point when building the job structure. Any jobs in-scope of the CPM project that are not “Benchmark jobs” are “Non-Benchmark”.

The general terms, parameters, processes, policies and procedures involved in salary administration. Pay administration guidelines include our Wage & Salary Program.

Compensating employees equally when they perform substantially similar work or job duties, while accounting for education, experience, and job-related performance under similar working conditions. Factors such as age, race, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex, disability, genetic predisposition or carrier status, marital status, or other factors prohibited by law, may not be considered in pay decisions.

The pay structure consists of pay ranges strategically positioned to reflect the market.

Includes an individual position’s purpose, duties, responsibilities, and the qualifications and skills required. It also includes a list of common tasks, physical requirements, and reporting relationship. These are used for several purposes, including recruitment classification and performance evaluation. A position description is more detailed than a job profile and is often specific to a particular department or position. Previously referred to as functional, job-specific, or position-level description.

The complete pay package awarded to an employee that includes both salary and the monetary value of all benefits received.

Our Total Rewards program goes beyond basic benefits and compensation. It’s also about providing resources and services to help employees manage all aspects of work/life balance. From health care plans and retirement plans, to tuition assistance and home ownership programs, the University of Rochester empowers employees to live their best lives.

Understand your role in the process

One of the most important components of the Career Path Modernization (CPM) project is the phase we are in currently, which is the validation of staff job classifications (such as “Technical Associate,” “Academic Counselor,” or “Project Nurse”), to ensure staff members are in a job classification that best represents the work they do.

You have been asked to participate in the MyPath job classification validation exercise because there may be some degree of variability to your job classification. The intent of this exercise is to ensure that all staff members are in a job classification that best represents the work they do. For example, the “Administrator II” classification is known to include a number of different types of jobs.

Starting the week of September 19, we asked supervisors to begin the process of validating certain job classifications by providing key information on each staff member’s position in MyPath. You will then have the opportunity to provide your thoughts and feedback on what your supervisor provided in the MyPath Job Classification Validation Task. Once you receive the task in MyPath from your supervisor, you will have 14 calendar days to provide your thoughts. If additional time is needed, any step in the process can be reopened.

Focus on your top 3-5 job responsibilities, not everything you do.

Your supervisor, with your input, will be asked to list the top 3-5 job responsibilities of your role and approximately what percentage of your time you spend completing those tasks.

To help ensure Compensation receives the information needed to validate your job classification, keep these best practices in mind:

• Focus on the things that are absolutely essential to your job. Ask yourself – What is the primary reason my job exists?
• Though all your work is important, not every duty needs to be captured in this exercise; only the core responsibilities that you are performing the majority of the time.
• For each job responsibility, provide a general sense of the percentage of time you spend doing that task It does not need to equal 100%. 80% is a good target.
• Remember to only document your job responsibilities as they are today, rather than as they were in the past or might be in the future.
• Focus on your required job responsibilities, not the “nice to have” tasks you may do that go above and beyond your actual job requirements.

Capture the knowledge and experience necessary to perform your top job responsibilities; do not include “preferred” knowledge and experience as one might in a job posting.

When providing input on the minimum level of expertise necessary to fulfill job responsibilities, be sure to:

• Define the knowledge and experience needed to perform the job. This includes the minimum level of formal education and/or work experience. If someone could do the job without a certain qualification or experience, then it is a “preferred qualification” rather than a minimum requirement, and should not be listed.
• Base the education and experience requirements on what is required to do the job, not on what you, the person in the position, has or does not have.

Share your perspectives with your supervisor, and listen openly to theirs.

After you provide feedback in MyPath, your supervisor will have an opportunity to review your comments. This step can provide a more robust, accurate depiction of the position, which is very beneficial to the overall exercise. Best practices for a constructive conversation include:

1. Prepare for the potential of additional discussion with your supervisor outside of the interaction you have with each other within the MyPath system. Openly share your understanding of the key position information during these additional discussions.
2. Consider your supervisor’s perspectives with an open mind.
3. Understand the roles of both yourself and your supervisor in this step:
   1. You have experience in the role and provide important input.
   2. Ultimately, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to determine work assignments on the team based on department/school needs.
4. Have an understanding of what changes have been made based on your input.
5. If you feel additional support is needed when working towards a shared understanding of the key position information, you can ask your supervisor to engage your department designee and/or your HR Business Partner for assistance.

Understand what will happen with the information you and your supervisor provide after it’s submitted.

Once your Job Classification Validation task has been completed by you and your supervisor, it will be sent along for department review. Department reviews are facilitated locally by a department designee to meet the department’s unique review needs. The review process may include additional leadership reviews, comparison of similar jobs for consistency in approach, and consideration of how responsibilities are described to ensure accuracy and effectiveness.

Once the department review process is completed, the responses will be reviewed by a combination of internal and external compensation experts. First, Compensation will group similar jobs together for reviews to ensure consistency across the institution and clear, accurate paths for career growth. Next, Compensation will review the key position information provided against the existing job classification to determine if the current classification is correctly aligned. They will reach out to the supervisor via the HR Business Partner if additional information is needed.

If the current classification is not the most suitable for the position, Compensation will consider whether an existing job classification would be more appropriate.

If it is determined that the position would be better suited for a classification that does not exist, Compensation will create one that properly reflects the job requirements.

The Compensation team will be performing thorough reviews of thousands of jobs and will work to complete them as quickly as possible while maintaining accuracy. Outcomes will be communicated and implemented on a rolling basis, with a goal of completing all reviews by summer 2023. Some final determinations, communications, and/or effective dates may be delayed to allow for a holistic review across the organization and any unique or complex factors that may arise in the course of reviews.

If a staff member or supervisor disagrees with the determination, they will have the opportunity to appeal. Additional information on the appeals process will be shared in early 2023.