Inside Iowa State

May 7, 2008

Council responds to compensation study

Erin Rosacker

The Professional and Scientific Council voted on a pair of motions and filled out its 2008-09 executive committee at its May 2 meeting.

Compensation study response

A first motion accompanied the council's formal response to the Towers Perrin final report on its study of ISU's P&S compensation structure.

The Towers Perrin report contained recommendations for a new salary structure and a set of administrative guidelines for implementation. The council's response to the consultant's report lists:

• Acceptable items of the proposed salary structure and administrative guidelines
• Unaccepted items of the administrative guidelines
• Disputed methods in the report

The council response is online. The consultant's report is available via AccessPlus (click on "Employee" tab, then "P&S Comp Study").

Following lengthy discussion and several amendments, the final motion stated that the council endorsed some of the Towers Perrin report, rejected other portions, and asked university leaders to give the council a chance to "review and advise on a detailed implementation plan."

Rather than consider the motion for a vote at its June meeting, the council suspended the rules and sent it on to President Gregory Geoffroy and executive vice president and provost Elizabeth Hoffman with a 23-9 vote.

Consistent comparison

This year's annual report on P&S salaries issued by human resource services used a new formula to calculate the market comparison and changed some benchmark positions.

To "present a consistent picture of ISU's P&S market position," the council considered a motion asking that changes made to the data used in the calculations, or to the benchmark positions, be noted in the report. If benchmark changes are made, it requests calculations using both the old and new benchmarks.

The motion passed unanimously.

Election results

Three council members were voted into office. Robin McNeely (IT Services) takes over as secretary; Kevin Kane (IT Services) will continue to serve as vice president for university planning and budget; and Jason Follett (teacher education) will fill the newly created vice president for university community relations post. President-elect Lynn Mumm (IPRT company assistance) takes over as president in June. Camille Schroeder (engineering academic and student affairs) was voted the 2008-09 president-elect in January.

The P&S Council passed a pair of motions at its May 2 meeting, including a motion in response the Towers Perrin report on ISU's P&S compensation structure.