In an email to faculty and staff Tuesday, WKU announced the launch of two new campus-wide initiatives as a part of the university’s larger strategic plan.

Ann Mead, senior vice president for finance and administration said in the email WKU will be initiating “a comprehensive study of faculty and staff compensation and redesigning our performance management systems.” Mead said such a study has not been conducted at WKU in more than 10 years.

This study will be led by the Office of Human Resources and the Provost’s Office in partnership with a national consulting firm, Sibson Consulting. Mead said in the email that the strategic initiatives are estimated to be completed in the spring of 2020.

Campus input will be gathered through a website, town hall sessions, small groups and supervisory focus groups.

Mead provided a list of the broad objectives for both initiatives in the email, which are as follows:

Mead said faculty positions will be assessed by how faculty salaries compare with the relevant higher education market by academic discipline and by rank. Staff positions will see an updated job description, an evaluation of market competitiveness, the creation of a new structure for salary administration and the design of a new hierarchy for career growth and advancement.

With the compensation adjustment, Mead said there will be two different paths for faculty and staff positions in the performance management project. She said methods of faculty evaluations will remain in place but the methodology to determine merit pay rewards will be adjusted with the performance management project. She added for staff, a redesign of performance management instruments, criteria, communication and training are included. 

Assistant News Editor Emily DeLetter can be reached at 270-745-6011 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @emilydeletter.

Development of a communication plan for effective implementation of the new compensation and performance management programs.

Creating and implementing tools and approaches to successfully support implementation of the performance management system in to the WKU culture.

Development of an effective, contemporary performance management system that is aligned with the recently piloted executive leadership development (ELD) program and that will remain effective as the makeup of the workforce changes over time.

Creating a holistic compensation philosophy that includes positioning of salaries to an appropriately defined market.

Development of a comprehensive compensation program that is market-competitive, fair, and ensures internal equity.