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Feb. 9, 2007 P&S Council members talk moneyby Erin Rosacker Money was the hot topic at the Feb. 1 Professional and Scientific Council meeting -- including the flex pay program, a recommended P&S pay matrix and the recently completed AFSCME contract. Associate provost Susan Carlson announced that the flexible pay program approved by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, and developed for use at ISU has not been well-received by campus units. The program was designed to financially reward non-organized P&S staff for "extra-meritorious" performance. "The overwhelming consensus was that the process we had put together was process-heavy and seemed unworkable," Carlson said. "So, at this moment, the units are all telling us, 'No, we don't think we want to implement this.'" Carlson said that although units have not chosen to adopt the program, the process has generated good conversation about recognizing outstanding work by P&S employees. "We realize we need more conversation," Carlson said. "[Provost] Betsy Hoffman has a lot of good ideas about supporting and rewarding staff from her prior experience. She's talked a lot about other things that we could be doing that we're not doing." P&S pay recommendation gets first readThe compensation and benefits committee introduced a draft of FY08 P&S salary recommendations, which council members will vote on in the March 1 meeting. The draft requests that minimum and maximum salaries in the P&S pay matrix reflect the Midwest region urban consumer price index, which increased 2.44 percent in 2006. The committee also recommends using the index (2.44 percent) as the minimum increase for employees who receive a satisfactory or better review. Anything lower, including no increase, would be intended for employees who receive unsatisfactory evaluations. This policy would be different from the current minimum increase, which is based on a percentage (approximately one-third) of the estimated average P&S salary increase. That recommended percentage was just 0.83 percent for FY07. "If you take a look at the practice and the way that it's been handled, that one-third would really be punitive," said Virgil Schmitt, committee co-chair. "What we're really trying to do is to not reward substandard performance." The committee recommends using remaining funds for performance, market and equity increases. If funding is an issue, the draft indicates that reallocated university resources should be used. Union contract newsCarla Espinoza, associate vice president for human resources, confirmed that the state's union negotiations with AFSCME are complete and the two-year contract is in the process of getting ratified by the various unions. This contract covers merit employees at the regent institutions. According to Espinoza, the portion of the contract dealing with regent schools remained virtually unchanged, but annual compensation moved up to 3 percent. The 4.5 percent anniversary date raise, which only applies to employees who have not reached their pay grade maximums, remains the same. Although the funds technically are a part of the state salary bill, ISU has not received money from the state salary pool for several years. "We have asked to be back in the state salary bill this year," said Pat Strah, budget officer in the business and finance office. "I think the governor has implied that will be the case; we will have to wait and see. But it [union contract] is never funded 100 percent." In other business:
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SummaryP&S Council members will vote on an FY08 salary increase recommendation at the March 1 meeting. |