Pay Administration

Staff are highly valued across the University and play a pivotal role in RIT’s success. In alignment with the University’s mission and strategic objectives, the Staff Compensation Philosophy provides a framework that identifies the guiding principles and key elements of RIT’s compensation program. The philosophy is a part of the compensation component of the employee value proposition which, taken together with culture, values, and career, highlights why RIT is a desirable place to work.

RIT is committed to attracting, retaining, and engaging a varied, high-quality workforce. The Staff Compensation Philosophy supports this goal through the following guiding principles:

• Acknowledge that individual staff contributions and collaboration with others are critical to the achievement of the University’s missions, goals, and objectives.
• Encourage excellence by rewarding exceptional performance based on individual achievement, effective teamwork, and contribution to the growth and success of the University.
• Foster understanding of pay decisions and responsible pay practices.
• Maintain a fair, consistent, and transparent process for compensation decisions.
• Provide market competitive compensation through benchmarking against higher education institutions and relevant external organizations.
• Support competitive and equitable compensation through a university-wide staff job framework and pay structure(s).
• Allow flexibility to address and be responsive to market and University needs and challenges.
• Support, reinforce, and align compensation decisions with budgetary and financial strategies with a goal of growth and sustainability.
• Prohibit discrimination, adverse impact, or adverse treatment of protected classes as identified in applicable law and policies.

In support of these guiding principles, there are six key elements of the compensation program:

Market Competitiveness

RIT regularly conducts external market benchmarking to the applicable labor and talent markets for compensation comparisons. These markets reflect the organizations and locations where the University attracts and competes for staff talent. RIT uses published survey market data to help determine the market competitiveness of base pay.

Pay Structure

Staff jobs are assigned to pay grades (pay ranges) within the University’s pay structure(s) based on job content, the job market rate, placement within the university-wide job leveling framework, and the organizational structure. The pay structure supports consistent, equitable, and competitive compensation practices.

Reward for Contributions and Growth

Individual pay within the job’s defined pay grade considers factors such as the employee’s demonstrated knowledge, skills, capabilities, and experience relevant to their job, as well as their performance and contributions to their role. Internal equity and ensuring equitable compensation for similar work, skills, and performance is also a factor. A staff career architecture framework serves as a foundation for staff to explore meaningful career development opportunities.

Benefits and Work-Life Rewards

In addition to base pay, RIT provides staff with a comprehensive, competitive, and attractive suite of health, wellness, retirement, education, and work-life benefits that demonstrate a strong commitment to care for employees and their families.

Administration and Maintenance

HR provides consultative expertise and partners with managers and senior leaders in compensation and career architecture related matters. The work includes monitoring market pay trends/practices, including regularly updating pay structure(s) to sustain competitiveness, assisting in the review of internal equity, and maintaining and updating practices, tools, and resources.

Transparency and Communication

RIT is committed to transparency in communication and education around the total compensation program. Overall program design, policies, tools, and resources are clear and communicated regularly to promote awareness and understanding, as well as to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.

As a federal contractor, RIT will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with RIT’s legal duty to furnish information.

RIT uses external market data for salary benchmarking, including data from appropriate labor markets and peer institutions. The primary surveys utilized are:

• College & University Professionals Association (staff and faculty positions)
• Western Management Group (staff positions only)
  • EduComp Survey
  • Collegiate Athletics Compensation Survey
• Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce (staff positions only)

The market (or labor market) refers to the organizations and locations where RIT competes to hire employees. RIT’s labor market includes local and regional data and institutions classified as R1 (doctoral universities - very high research activity) or R2 (doctoral universities - high research activity) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Athletic positions are generally benchmarked to athletic divisional data.

Staff: For each wage grade band, Human Resources compares RIT’s wage grade band midpoint to the market data to determine if RIT’s midpoint is leading, aligned with, or lagging the market on a sustained basis. Based on the results of the analysis, Human Resources will make a recommendation to the university’s senior leadership if an adjustment to the wage grade band structure is needed. The wage band structure is assessed on an annual basis.

Faculty: Faculty market data by rank and discipline is assessed annually based on survey data from RIT’s peer institutions.

Human Resources facilitates a regular equity review of employee salary data to determine if there are any pay differences not explained by expected factors such as: market pay for the job, time in rank/grade, performance rating, length of service, and terminal degree (faculty). A statistical analysis is performed by an independent third party vendor with expertise in compensation.

In accordance with New York State law, applicants cannot be required or asked to disclose their salary history. The University does not consider an applicant's current or past salary in determining whether to interview, hire, or promote a candidate and does not rely on the wage or salary history in determining that person's wages or salary if hired.  This applies to both internal and external job applicants.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)/New York State Compliance:

RIT's compensation programs are designed to ensure compliance with a variety of federal and state labor laws. The University is committed to providing ongoing education and assessment to ensure compliance with statutory requirements for overtime pay, time reporting, and all related pay regulations.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is federal legislation that protects workers from unfair labor practices. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. The FLSA provides specific criteria and guidance to aid in determining the classification of a position. The nature of job duties and responsibilities, along with other considerations, define a position as exempt or non-exempt.

Exempt Jobs (Salaried)
Staff members in exempt jobs are not eligible for overtime pay in accordance with the FLSA.

Non-Exempt Jobs (Hourly)
Staff members in non-exempt jobs must be paid for all hours worked and are eligible for overtime in accordance with the FLSA (i.e. overtime is payable for hours worked in excess of 40 per week).

Determination of position classification is the responsibility of Human Resources and will be made concurrent with the following staff wage grade determination process, as appropriate. All positions are assumed to be non-exempt unless there is substantial evidence that demonstrates the position meets the exemption criteria.

Jobs are evaluated and assigned a wage grade based on external market pricing and internal benchmarking. External market pricing looks at the pay being provided by organizations outside of RIT for the same or similar work. Internal benchmarking compares the job with similar roles within RIT taking into account a variety of factors such as:

• Knowledge needed to perform the position responsibilities
• Leadership and/or guidance that the position receives or provides to others
• Level of analytical and problem solving skills required to do the work of the position
• Position scope, level of responsibility and the resulting impact on the university, division, department and/or work group
• Level of interpersonal/communication skills required to meet the responsibilities of the position

The wage grade structure for staff jobs supports alignment of RIT jobs to the current labor market. The wage grade structure is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that our pay levels continue to align with the external labor market.