January 10, 2002
HR tools will help evaluate employees
Human Resources recently announced a series of tools to help supervisors evaluate research scientist and engineer positions, determine appropriate salary ranges and to identify career progressions.
With the help of an advisory group representing departments that have about 90 percent of all these positions at the UW, the HR Compensation Office has developed the following products: a new job questionnaire form, a new salary grade structure, new generic job descriptions for each of the eight levels of employment, and career path guidelines.
The material is available on the HR Web site, http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/index.html. The site also has answers to frequently asked questions, a glossary of commonly used compensation terms, and relevant procedures to follow for new positions and position reviews. Compensation consultants from HR will be available upon request to provide additional training.
“Initially, we expect these tools to be used to create or modify new or vacant positions,” says Shelley Middlebrooks, assistant director of human resources. “We hope these new tools will assist principal investigators and others involved in research programs who develop grant proposals, make salary determinations and decide on grade placement. We also believe that these tools will greatly reduce the time for HR to process personnel requests for new and vacant positions.”
Middlebrooks cautions that using these new tools will not result in automatic changes to employees’ job grades or salary levels, since most schools and colleges with these positions use internal mechanisms for addressing market and equity issues. However, the new payroll job codes and titles will reflect the new generic job descriptions.
The transition of current employees in scientist/engineer-related payroll titles such as oceanographer, fish biologist and meteorologist to the new generic titling system will be handled automatically through the HEPPS system and should be completed shortly. Employees, principal investigators and administrators should use additional descriptive “working” titles for individual positions, Middlebrooks says. Employees in other research-related positions such as research consultant and research coordinator will be unaffected by these changes.
Administrators may use these new tools to evaluate existing positions as time and budgets allow. To use these new tools appropriately, supervisors and employees should review the new job descriptions on the Web site and compare the content to existing job duties, rather than simply using the employee’s education level as the sole determinant of title and grade. Important elements of this evaluation include the level of technical problem solving and innovation, the degree of project planning and management responsibilities, the use of leadership and networking skills, and overall technical excellence. A review may show that the employee possesses a higher level of credentials than those required by the job description, but this alone does not necessarily qualify the individual for a higher level position, Middlebrooks says.
Questions or comments about these new tools can be directed to Middlebrooks at 206-543-2297 or by e-mail at shelleym@u.washington.edu.
