Frequently Asked Questions

The primary purpose of the study was to assess the University’s market competitiveness as well as to create a sustainable, competitive, fair, and understandable compensation program.

This study involved key members of the university community as well as an external consulting firm that specializes in these types of assessments for higher education institutions.

A compensation philosophy is simply a formal statement documenting the University’s position about employee compensation. It documents pay strategy and essentially states the “why” behind employee pay. A compensation philosophy can also create a framework for consistency. A well-designed compensation philosophy supports the institutions' strategic plan and initiatives, business goals, competitive outlook, operating objectives, and compensation and total reward strategies.  (Compensation Philosophy).

Pay is determined based on various factors including market data, internal hierarchy of positions at the university, and budget considerations. If you have questions about your pay, please reach out to your immediate supervisor.

Pay is not determined by an employee’s desire to make more money, lifestyle, or cost of living. Pay is also not determined by job title alone or manager preferences.

Benchmark jobs are those that have a substantial portion of their work that is comparable to positions found at other higher education institutions or other organizations. This allows us to compare the pay for a given job. Jobs unique to Florida A&M University or that may exist at other organizations but generally don’t perform the same work or at the same level, would not be considered benchmark jobs.

A compensation study involves a review of our positions to determine a fair and competitive market-based salary point. This analysis is based on both a review of comparable market survey data as well as a review of internal salary relationships between jobs. The primary motivation for this project was to create a sustainable, competitive, fair, and understandable compensation program.

Not in a formal manner. Florida A&M University is always aware of the value of our compensation programs, but the market study conducted focused only on base salary. Consideration of non-salary benefits such as retirement, health benefits, paid leave, and tuition benefits does play a role in target market and implementation decisions but were not surveyed during this study.

The “peer markets” and the methodology for determining them was done through a collaborative process between Human Resources, leadership, best practices and recommendations from our consultants engaged to assist with this project. Florida A&M University uses the following two peer markets:

• Higher education institutions similar to Florida A&M University or inspirational universities.
• General industry data for staff positions that exist outside of higher education The goal is to compare ourselves with institutions from which we compete for talent.

There are a range of options that we may consider if such results are found. Some factors that impact a decision may include the scale of the differences, market trends for the position, internal equity, and budget constraints. We will not know or decide until an implementation approach is finalized.

Not necessarily. Decisions regarding compensation changes will be made once an implementation approach is finalized. A salary adjustment may be warranted for some positions but there are no guarantees.

It is not the intention of the study to lower pay or eliminate positions.

As a result of the study, we will be implementing updated salary structures for teaching faculty, A&P, and USPS staff. Your salary range is likely to change based on the implementation of these new structures. No changes will occur until an implementation approach is finalized.

The definition of “market competitive” can range from institution to institution, from position to position, and from person to person. Some positions are more difficult to recruit than others and therefore “market competitive” may be defined differently for those positions. Similarly, some employees may be new to a position while others are considered industry experts and bring significant experience to their role. Generally, we consider an appropriate range around the market median (50^th percentile) to be market competitive.