The Multi-Year Compensation Initiative is underway, and progress is being made. In addition to the information session in February hosted by Human Resources for faculty and staff on April 8 and 9, the Compensation Initiative executive sponsors – Thomas Poon, executive vice president and provost; Rosemarie Rae, executive vice president and chief operating officer; and compensation committee chair, Nancy Pluzdrak, vice president of Human Resources addressed tenured and non-tenured faculty members in-depth on what the initiative means for them.
LMU has historically targeted the market 50th percentile – the median – for faculty and staff compensation, which is typically where organizations position their pay. The initiative begins by targeting a higher percentile – 75th – to ensure LMU’s ability to attract and retain talent to support the university’s overall goals.
We began with Westchester tenure-line faculty so that the initiative would align with the AMI (Annual Merit Increase) process, as their contracts need to be in place for fall 2024. Planning for term faculty and part-time faculty (non-tenure track faculty) is currently in progress for Year 2 of the Compensation Initiative.
In addition to adjusting LMU tenure-line faculty salaries to the 75th market percentile, the initiative aims to implement a standardized AMI and performance review process for staff.
While pay and salaries are personal and unique to each individual, they are also dependent upon job knowledge, level of experience, quality of work, skill, performance, and other factors. A standardized review process ensures that faculty and staff receive AMIs that are consistent and equitable across LMU, which, in turn, helps us maintain a high-quality workplace and workforce. This work is currently underway and will be shared with managers across LMU as a guideline for evaluating the performance of direct reports.
What’s Next
The executive sponsors will continue providing periodic status reports to the broader LMU community. As a reminder, the Multi-Year Compensation Initiative information hub is the one-stop shop for all updates. You can submit questions here, see related communications, and stay abreast of progress.