The MPTF will meet the last week of May to consider all feedback and finalize our proposal for submission to the President. We appreciate all of the feedback we have received to date and look forward to receiving your comments on this draft.

Thank you.

* *

* DRAFT*

*Merit Program Task Force*

*MERIT PROGRAM PROPOSAL*

*May 2008*

* *

Fall Semester 2007, the Merit Program Task Force (MPTF) was formed at the request of President Wilson to study the issue of a merit program for exempt and non-exempt staff. The MPTF was asked to generate ideas, propose them to the campus community and to get feedback and input, using the most transparent forms possible. The MPTF met regularly and proposed some ideas and questions to the campus community. MPTF created an online blog for regular feedback, conducted three open forums during varying work shifts, created suggestion boxes for written responses and encouraged ideas or feedback to be provided to any committee member via email, telephone or in-person communication. The MPTF members communicated with Staff Council through two of its regularly scheduled meetings. The MPTF solicited and received information on merit pay programs implemented by our peer universities from HEDS (Higher Education Data Sharing) through a questionnaire developed by Mona Gardner. MPTF also solicited information on merit pay programs in the corporate world from Board of Trustee members Patricia M. Armstrong, senior vice president and director of human resources, Wells Fargo & Company, and Susan D. Waring, senior vice president and chief administrative officer, State Farm Life Insurance. In addition we reviewed merit pay programs from not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions.

We would like this to be considered as the inaugural merit pay program which should be revisited after completion of its first year implementation. Any modifications to the program should be addressed after this first year by the MPTF or others as appointed by the President.

This inaugural merit pay plan will take effect August 1, 2009 and will be funded by .5% of 1% of the total exempt and non-exempt staff salary pool. There will continue to be a standard annual pay increase as approved by the Board of Trustees and as the budget allows. For example, if the total exempt and non-exempt staff salary pool increase is 4% and the standard increase is determined to be 3.5 %, then .5% of the total exempt and non-exempt salary pool will go into the merit pay pool.

We propose both exempt and non-exempt employees be eligible to receive merit pay increases. The number of merit pay increases will be divided up proportionately, according to the number of staff within each Cabinet Officer’s* area. The number of merit pay increases awarded to exempt and non-exempt staff will generally approximate the ratio of exempt to non-exempt employees within a Cabinet Officer’s staff.` Merit pay increases will be added to the employee’s base pay and employees will be eligible to receive a merit pay increase each year. To maximize the number of employees who will be able to receive a merit pay increase, flat amounts of $500 will be awarded. The number and the amount of awards which can be allocated each year will be determined by the current year’s economic climate.

There is much variance in the type of work performed in the different departments, and what warrants a merit increase for an employee in one department may not be deemed appropriate in another department. We have concluded a single methodology for awarding merit increases will not work for the entire IWU community.

Therefore, each Cabinet Officer will develop a methodology, which will work for his/her respective departments/offices, to award a merit pay increase to the most exceptional employees under their jurisdiction. There may be several different methods used by each Cabinet Officer to realize the needs of their different departments/offices.

For example, possible ways to allocate money to respective departments/offices are as follows:

1) A Cabinet Officer begins with a specific number of merit increases. The directors who report to the member of the Cabinet bring forward the names of those deserving merit and “makes a case” for merit to the other Directors. This creates a norming process for the Directors. The group then helps to decide those most deserving of merit, which then goes to the Cabinet Officer for final approval.

2) Each Cabinet Officer allocates a specific number of merit increases to departmental supervisors. Supervisors make their recommendations directly to their Cabinet member, who makes the final decisions.

The annual performance review process is a communication vehicle intended to provide supervisors with a tool to review an employee’s performance in relation to performance expectations. This information may be used to identify exceptional performers who may be eligible for a merit increase. Performance reviews for all staff will be completed in January and February. Merit pay recommendations will be presented to Human Resources by Cabinet Officers, by May 30, with compensation letters going out in June and July.

Human Resources will continue its commitment to provide training and support for supervisors to sustain the work of both the merit increase and performance review programs.

_*2008-2009 Academic Year Recommendation:*_

We recommend initiating an “Immediate Reward Program”. One hundred $25 gift cards will be allocated among the Cabinet Officers for distribution. These gift cards are to be used at the discretion of a supervisor to immediately reward an employee for an outstanding job performed.

At the end of the 2008-2009 academic year, the Immediate Reward Program will be revisited to determine whether it will be incorporated into the overall program.

*Cabinet Officers:

President
Vice President for Advancement
Vice President for Business & Finance
Vice President for Public Relations
Vice President for Student Affairs
Dean of Admissions
Dean of Enrollment Management
Provost

“Theoretical” Information

http://www.wilsongroup.com/recognition.shtml

http://ohrm.os.doc.gov/Performance/prod01_001152

http://www.incentivecentral.org/employees/types_of_programs.1872.html#6

http://www.busreslab.com/policies/goodpol4.htm

http://www.hr.com/servlets/sfs?&t=/Default/gateway&i=1116423256281&b=1116423256281&application=story&active=no&ParentID=1119278077239&StoryID=1119653564312&xref=http%3A//www.google.com/search%3Fq%3Dperformance+recognition+program%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial%26start%3D60%26sa%3DN

Examples of Active Programs

http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwsrs/reward/purpose.htm

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?citeid=213644

http://www.library.cornell.edu/Adminops/libhumres/recognitionprogram.html

http://www.usda.gov/da/employ/recog.htm

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/hrdapp?area=home&subject=erpm&topic=emr-er

http://web.mit.edu/facilities/about/rewards/DoF%20R_R.pdf

President Wilson has appointed a special task force to explore how we might establish a process for recognizing the exceptional work of nonexempt and exempt staff members on this campus. He wants the committee to collect information and develop a process that will work for Illinois Wesleyan. He has set a target date for the final report to be submitted to him no later than the end of the current academic year.

Who we are:

The Merit Program Task Force (MPTF) members are:

Convener:
Dan Klotzbach, Vice President for Business and Finance
Members:
Cathy Spitz, Associate Vice President for Human Resources
Beth Cunningham, Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Kathy Cavins, Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students
Karen Schmidt, University Librarian and Professor
Connie Vail, Events Coordinator-Alumni Relations/Development
Pat Zehr, Administrative Systems Analyst

What we’ve done:

The MPTF has met three times. We were tasked with looking at both quantitative and qualitative ways of approaching recognition of performance. We reviewed literature from various types of organizations detailing the merit and recognition programs they offered. We identified five main types of recognition programs and discussed the pros and cons of each. We are planning to meet with experts in the field and also to solicit information from other academic institutions.

What we need now is input from the campus community. We welcome any comments you may have, either on our pro/con lists or in general. What kind of program do you want? What do you consider a fair program to be? This is your chance to give us your input. We would like your initial thoughts, concerns and or suggestions by Feb. 18^th. Signed suggestions received by Feb. 11^th will be presented to our experts on Feb. 12^th for their input. However all signed suggestions, thoughts and concerns will be considered by the Task Force.

How to contact us:

If you don’t want to post your comments on this blog you can always:
Email the committee at MeritPro {at} iwu(.)edu
Email any one of us individually
Send us a note via Campus Mail
Phone us or stop by and talk to us

MPTF Contact Information.

Everything submitted will be read by the committee but only signed submissions will be considered. If requested, we will keep the individual submitting feedback anonymous to the IWU community.

Some Next Steps:

We will synthesize the feedback we receive from you.

After we have met with some experts in the field on February 12^th we will be back in contact with you.

We are working on having secured suggestions boxes being placed in two locations on campus.

We will be providing more opportunities for you to provide feedback.

Pro/Con tables:

MONETARY - One Time

MONETARY - Increase to Base Pay

Non-Monetary Awards

Nomination as Basis for Determining Recipients

Supervisory Evaluation as Basis for Determining Recipients