Does Your School Really Know What You Do?:

1

Does Your School Really Know What You Do?

• Classification and Compensation of Campus NMC
  Staff
• David Herrington, Princeton UniversityAndrew
  Bonamici, University of Oregon

2
Outline

• 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

3
Overview of job categories and classification
systems

• 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
• Classification specification
• generic document that describes the level of work
  to be performed and not the specific content of
  any given job.
• Position
• a single job defined by a written position
  description in which the unique assigned duties
  are clearly delineated.

4
Overview of job categories and classification
systems (continued)

• Analysis of a position for allocation to a class
• 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-compe
  nsation/class-facts.html

5
Example Oregon University System

• Broad categories
• Officers of Instruction (Teaching/Research
  Faculty
• Tenured tenure-track faculty with academic rank
• Officers of Administration (Administrative
  Faculty)
• 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

6
Example Oregon University System (continued)

• Formal classification system for
  union-represented support staff includes over 300
  classes. Examples relevant to media multimedia
  field include
• Information Technology Consultant 1 - 3
• Graphic Artist 1 3
• Videographer 1-2

7
Multimedia positions in the campus context

• 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

8
Tips for working with your campus Human Resources
office

• Educate the HR staff
• NMC programs are relatively new, and the
  technologies and activities changing rapidly
• Campus HR professionals have broad knowledge of
  many fields and are quick studies in learning
  about new ones
• HR staff do not have a practitioners 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

9
Tips for working with your campus Human Resources
office (continued)

• Help identify relevant comparator positions.
• What other campus units employ staff with campus
  with multimedia duties? Examples
• graphic artists
• webmasters
• instructional designers
• instructional media specialists
• courseware support staff

10
Tips for working with your campus Human Resources
office (continued)

• Places to look for comparators
• schools, colleges, academic departments
• instructional media centers
• computing centers
• libraries
• teaching effectiveness instructional
  development programs
• administrative units such as campus publications
  or PR/Marketing

11
Tips for working with your campus Human Resources
office (continued)

• Understand the HR Officers 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, Davids NMC salary survey)

12
Tips for working with your campus Human Resources
office (continued)

• 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.

13
Using administrative processes to educate campus
leaders and market multimedia services

• 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/retenti
  on challenges in higher education

14
Wrap-Up

• Ask campus HR staff for an overview of your
  institutions 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

15
Contact Information

• Andrew R. Bonamici
• Associate University Librarian for Administrative
  Services
• 115D Knight Library, University of Oregon
• Eugene, Oregon 97403-1299 USA
• bonamici_at_oregon.uoregon.edu
• voice [phone]
• fax [phone]
• http//libweb.uoregon.edu
• http//nmc.uoregon.edu/
• Slideshow URL
• http//darkwing.uoregon.edu/bonamici/NMC/NMC2001.
  html