CIRES Administration News

Below are the questions and answers from the CIRES Compensation Town Hall held on Sept 27th, 2024. Full recording and slide deck can be accessed here.

1	Why were Researcher Scientists who work in faculty member’s research group not included in this process, even when their home base is CIRES and the research title track is entirely CIRES-based?	Because the leads of these groups are teaching faculty with different funding challenges than employees on some of our larger, federally funded projects, we need to understand the teaching facultys’ individual budgets for their research groups and the impacts of a new structure on their existing and future budgets from a sustainability perspective. This will take more time to review and consider. Teaching faculty straddle both the research/institute and academic sides of the house and oftentimes the academic units’ budgets differ from that of CIRES.
2	If we are to receive a pay change, when will we be informed?	Notifications for those eligible for increase will be received by October 25, 2024, via email from CIRES HR.
3	I am grateful for all the time and energy that went into this study and implementation. My question is whether or when this type of analysis and adjustment would extend to teaching faculty, for whom pay issues are well documented	Because compensation management and compliance for TTT faculty is managed by the respective school or college, we do not have control over compensation processes for that employee group.
4	How will ongoing pay assessment (to stay competitive with the market) be conducted? i.e. if CIRES salaries fall behind the market – will CIRES auto-adjust salaries? Or is CIRES relying on annual merit-based pay rises to do this?	To start, CIRES anticipates conducting market analysis updates biennially to see how our pay practices relate to current labor market data. When this review is completed, we will consider if adjustments to the structure — or to certain functional areas of work — are recommended to keep us competitive. Our current economic situation must also factored into any future adjustments as future adjustments will need to be supported by the original salary funding source, not by CIRES. Please note that market analysis reviews do not automatically result in a recommended increase for CIRES positions.
5	How will supervisory duties be compensated if the functional title doesn’t include them?	We have some potential ideas about how to address supervisor pay, but need some time to vet that, the mechanisms by which to pay supervisors as some people move in and out of that role, and the budget side of things needs to be determined as it has to be supported by the primary funding source.
6	Over the last couple of years, merit increases have been implemented across the board and not considered performance. How was this considered in the process?	Annual increases determined through campus processes are separate from this compensation structure. This structure is an effort to better align our positions with the market, based on the required qualifications and CIRES’ ability to pay. Annual increases through campus – whether as a merit increase or across the board – remain separate.
8	Was cost of living considered in the market value salary surveys used in this project? Boulder has a fairly high cost of living so it seems like it should be considered when comparing similar salaries across the market.	See response to item #47
9	How can CIRES stay competitive if cost of living and raises to keep pace with inflation are not considered especially given the high cost of living in Boulder (or increased cost of transportation necessary to live in more affordable areas)?	All organizations in Colorado, including CU, are having to navigate this scenario. Per Employers Council, however, salaries in the Denver/Boulder area are 10% higher than the nationwide average overall. Employees will need to consider the total rewards offered by CIRES and CU, including salary, benefits, retirement options, work/life balance, vacation/sick leave accrual in comparison to other organizations and determine what works best for them. While other employers may offer higher salaries, some of the other benefits offered may not be as generous as CU’s and vice versa. Ultimately, CIRES is making great progress in creating this compensation structure; however, we are still a research institute that is part of a public university and we cannot compete with all private sector salaries.
10	Are the “functional titles” discussed here the same as the functional title listed on our insideCIRES page? If not, how do we know which functional title we were assigned for the purpose of this compensation activity?	Yes, the functional titles discussed during the presentation are the same ones listed on the InsideCIRES webpage.
11	Will supervisors be informed of the outcome for people they supervise?	No, this information will be shared with individual employees. Unit or lab leadership will receive a roster for their unit which will include information on those receiving an increase and those who do not. It will be at the unit leader’s discretion if there is a business justification to share that out further with a supervisor.
12	Will we be able to see detailed outcomes of your research for specific functional titles? As supervisor and hiring manager, I’d find it very valuable to understand your findings.	Not at this time. However, as we think about creating an information session for hiring managers and unit leads to inform them of salary setting practices, we can consider this.
13	In the Total Compensation Model, how will you guarantee the employee will be able to access development/ growth opportunities, in a way that it’s also a point of attraction to new hires?	CIRES has its own professional development budget to which employees can apply for use of funds. Approved support can be used for both CU and external professional development opportunities. CU itself offers several professional development courses throughout the year, and some at a cost, which can generally be covered by these funds managed by CIRES HR. Additionally, further professional development courses are offered throughout the year by CIRES HR, our CIRES DEI Director and others. Please watch the CIRES Events notifications for these opportunities.
14	Are you going to share the salary ranges today?	Not today, but in the future.
16	If it is being implemented on Oct 1, why will the contact of employees of their status in the new structure not be until late October?	The increase is effective October 1, but then we need processing time for the HR to prepare and upload the payroll data, and we need to allow Finance to adjust supporting speed types on the funding side before we can move to the individual communications. Each step takes time, but we need those pieces in place and finalized before we prepare the communications.
17	Will the FAQ dive into the details about how the increases (or lack of) are separated by functional title and sub-category?	No, the FAQs do not share that level of detail.
18	What is the regional focus for the market research? Boulder, Front Range, Colorado?	The relevant labor market used for this study was Denver/Boulder, Public Higher Education Institutions and Private Sector Research Services
19	Yes, thank you all so much for all your work on this project! It seems like quite an undertaking and I appreciate how rigorous it seemed. And thank you for explaining it in such detail today.	Thank you! We’re glad you found it helpful!
20	Are there any updates of how the merit process will be handled or is that a separate topic for another day?	That’s a topic for a future town hall. It will be a traditional merit process but we will not have a more formal update until November most likely.
21	The Federal Govt has the “locality pay” category to take local cost of living into account. In light of the increase in permission granted for CIRES workers to work fully remote, do you think this issue will be eventually addressed by the university and then by CIRES?	Right now, CU doesn’t have any identified plans to consider “locality pay”. If that changes, we will update employees.
22	How did you handle job positions where the responsibilities might cross more than 1 market title?	Many jobs cross more than one title as we all have different facets that comprise our work. Ultimately, we ask employees and supervisors to identify a title that represents the majority and/or core nature of their overall responsibilities – so the title that aligns with duties that are 50% or more. The majority of employees are then able to identify a title in this manner.
23	Was GS scale (Federal Pay Ranges) used as many of us might be more similar to federal researchers than private industry?	The federal pay data was one of the 6 relevant salary surveys used to inform our pay structure.
24	What does the “CIRES will fund 33% of difference in Year3” mean? Where will the other 67% come from? Could you explain more on this? Thanks!	CIRES covers 100% of the salary increase in Year 1, Year 2 – 66%, and Year 3 – 33%. This phased-inapproach allows new salary rates to be worked into proposals; therefore, whenawarded, the proposal will be awarded the higher salary rates. If in Years 2 and 3 you cannot still supportthe new salary increase, please reach out to your finance manager for options.
25	Can you clarify how the merit process will work in the upcoming Jan? It seems that in this presentation, the merit process will be independent of the comp work. But what does that process look like for someone in a NOAA lab?	The annual merit process is separate from this compensation structure implementation for researchers. We will be happy to detail more about that once all has been determined for this year’s process. Typically, though, in a given year of a merit allocation, eligible employees receive a merit increase % that is aligned with their rating of 3, 4, or 5.
26	Thank you for your work on this project and for presenting the methodology, justification, and plans going forward. Good information. 🙂 However, are graphs or other visualizations coming to summarize these data and track progress toward goals? I feel a little disappointed that there aren’t any graphs yet. I’m a visual learner. 🙁	Thanks for sharing that. We do not have graphs at this time, but we will consider this for future actions as we are able.
27	What assumptions were made in “aging” the data?	The salary surveys used in the study are published at different times during the year, so the data was brought forward to a common date using a salary adjustment factor of 4% which reflects the Employment Cost Index (ECI) that is published quarterly by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics which represents the movement of the cost of salaries and wages for Employers.
28	You mentioned a difference in salary ranges between AS and RS tracks reflecting the fact that RS tracks need a PhD. What about AS folks with a PhD? Will they get paid less than their RS counterparts at the same level? Or will their level be adjusted to reflect their level of education and experience?	It depends on the role. All RS roles are required by CU and therefore CIRES to have a PhD. Our AS jobs do not require a PhD and therefore we cannot reflect that in the resulting salary range. Certainly some of our AS employees have a PhD, but if it’s not required to perform the role, then it’s more of something that’s nice to have rather than an essential requirement. If the PhD for an AS is relevant to the work being done, but not a requirement, we count those years as experience when assigning career track rank, which is then associated with a higher salary range typically as you move up the career track ladder.
29	I’m now vaguely concerned my position might be under threat once CIRES support goes away, entirely because of an org-wide required increase in salary without a change in grant/funding/etc expectations. Is this a reasonable concern? If not, why?	The phased approach allows new salary rates to be worked into proposals; therefore, the proposal will be awarded the higher salary rates when awarded, and this should not be a concern.
30	It is good to know how the compensation analysis was done. However, many here were expecting to hear more numbers. We heard that 40% will get a raise on 31 Oct. Can this be expanded? For example: which RS/AS levels were most impacted? How are the numbers distributed across CU and NOAA based employees? How about different labs within NOAA?	We are not releasing that detailed data at this time. It would not change our outcomes or next steps.
31	How is compensation adjusted for “temporary” elevated job duties? For example assuming a Project Management role for a short period, when your current role does not include Project Management.	Not all new or temporary duties require a pay adjustment. It would depend on the nature of the duties themselves and their complexity (or lack thereof). It would also depend on how much time someone is dedicating to the new duties. We would need to work with the supervisor and employee to understand the additional temporary duties and the resulting impacts to understand if a temporary pay increase may be appropriate.
32	So does what Cyndie and Melissa said related to pay assessment being conducted through time (to stay competitive with the market) but CIRES not necessarily adjusting to keep pace with it mean that CIRES will not auto-adjust salaries through time through a specific process? It sounds like CIRES will be looking, but not necessarily doing anything about it…	(From original FAQ language) To start, CIRES anticipates conducting market analysis updates biennially to see how our pay practices relate to current labor market data. When this review is completed, we will consider if adjustments to the structure — or to certain functional areas of work — are recommended to keep us competitive. Our current economic situation must also factor into any future adjustments as future adjustments will need to be supported by the original salary funding source, not by CIRES. Please note that market analysis reviews do not automatically result in a recommended increase for CIRES positions.
33	I find it painful to learn that supervisory roles are not a factor. This is extra work. and it should be valued.	Thank you for that input. We value the hard work of supervision. Before we could address supervision, we had to start with creation of a structure and base pay. We have to ensure our base pay is aligned with our new structure before we can consider responsibilities of supervision. This is a priority and we’ve developed some draft plans, but we have to determine a mechanism for potential pay, and any further increases need to be funded by the original funding source and not CIRES, so this takes time.
34	Could you elaborate on how the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and antitrust applies to employees embedded with teams at NOAA DSRC where the “equal work” would reasonably be compared to NOAA, CIRES, and contract staff all working on the same work day to day together? Especially contractors who are more aligned with CIRES workers in some cases whose data would not be reflected in the OPM.	OPM is just one of the six salary surveys CIRES referenced for this project. External labor market surveys are the legal way in which CIRES can work to collect relevant salary data for our positions as they represent salary information from multiple organizations (orgs aren’t identified individually in the surveys), but help us to understand relevant pay scales high level.For purposes of compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (CEPEWA). We are responsible for compliance for CIRES employees only as we can only control the salaries of our CIRES researchers. We do not have control over compensation systems for other organizations. Therefore when considering a peer group for researcher salary determinations at CIRES for purposes of CEPEWA compliance, we are going to look at career track rank, functional title, and then years in position, etc., when determining true peers for any salary decisions in our institute.
36	Thank you all 🙂	Thank you!
37	Is there a strategy for setting the new salary amount during promotion as part of this effort?	Not at this time. We’ve been brainstorming about how this may impact the career track promotion process and will share plans out as we get closer. We do not anticipate such a large spread in the promotion increase amounts going forward, however, given we’ve really worked to address the equity issues with researcher salaries. Previously, we saw a wider range of promotion increase amounts so that units could address existing equity concerns in addition to the promotion itself. Given equity is not a major issue now, and in keeping the consistency established by the new structure, the promotion increase amounts themselves should become more consistent over the next few years.
39	Does CIRES plan to ever be “competitive”? If we want the best scientists and support, why are we aiming to achieve the median?	The creation of this structure does make our researcher salaries more competitive in areas where we weren’t already. It’s a big step forward and we have a goal of continuing to make progress over time, where it’s appropriate and budget is available to support.
40	If possible to share, if there was a larger discrepancy that was found for a specific functional title, i.e. 10K+ below the competitive analysis. How will that be addressed in terms of funds? Will the employees that this affects see that complete increase as of October 31st?	Any adjustments being made to align with our new structure will be effective October 1.
41	If I understood Melissa correctly, CIRES is targeting the mid-point of the market for the purposes of this analysis. If CIRES wants to remain a world-leading institute and attract the best, shouldn’t the target be more ambitious than the 50th percentile?	Most organizations target the midpoint of the market. Leading the market can have its own risks in case of potentially overpaying positions in relation to market value. CIRES is choosing the midpoint philosophy which is reasonable and more competitive than where we’ve been, and it’s also something we can support financially and sustainably at this time.
42	Where can we find the new compensation structure?	We will share this information out in the future, but that date is TBD.
43	When jobs are posted for CIRES, will they include scale, level, and functional title, e.g “RS I to RS II, Computer Scientist”?	Functional titles will not be part of job ads as it’s really behind the scenes information that helps HR assess salary information for the position and with the hiring unit. Whereas in a job ad, the working title, RS or AS levels, and job summary will be the most important to candidates in helping them understand the job and necessary qualifications.
45	Is there any sense whether this will affect federal pay at NOAA? For example, will this bump up the average ZP III salary for CSL?	We don’t know the answer to that, but it seems unlikely they will look at our pay information for federal positions.
46	That is totally different from federal government philosophies that you need to afford to live where you work. How will this help CIRES researchers live in the communities they work?	We’re doing the best we can in making this move to create a structure and better align our salaries with the market. We established this project because we do greatly value our employees. This represents a starting point and a major milestone that we hope will benefit our institute and employees now and into the future.Ultimately, we have to abide by university policies and CU does not currently offer a cost of living increase. Employees need to weigh the total rewards options offered by CU as an employer and consider those in relation to other Colorado employers, and decide for themselves what work culture and environment works best for them.
47	Can we clarify the cost of living? I interpret that to mean regional costs. We are in Boulder, not western Kansas for example. Was that really not included?	The market data used for this data represents the Denver/Boulder market. The reason we use the Cost of Labor (ECI) Index and not the Cost of Living (CPI) Index is because they are two very different things. The cost of living is the price we pay for things like a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter. These costs and the indices that study and describe them are typically heavily influenced locally by housing / rental rates and generally by the price of oil / gas. The cost of living can vary widely by City and State (New York, San Francisco and Honolulu are extremely high; Louisville, Omaha and Albuquerque are low).The cost of labor is the price an employer can expect to pay for a certain skill set, or a certain job in a certain job market. These costs are studied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and are reported as the Employment Cost Index (ECI). These costs are heavily influenced locally by supply and demand of a particular skill set for a job (e.g., software engineers in San Jose are in high demand; oceanographers in Boise are not).Best practice in compensation is for employers to focus on the Cost of Labor (ECI) because it represents the supply and demand of a particular skill set for jobs. Some geographic areas may have a lower cost of living but are paying higher pay rates because there is a higher demand for that skill than there is a supply of that type of worker with that skill.An employer cannot be responsible for providing wage increases for diverse sets of jobs over different geographies that somehow cover the cost of living. One person’s standard of living may be different from another (one may like to eat hamburgers, another might like steak, one might prefer luxury cars, another likes economy cars). As consumers, we do not spend money the same way, so a cost of living adjustment does not equalize those factors when it comes to pay.So, when it comes to making decisions on pay budgets, increase philosophy, and salaries for new hires, employers pay attention to the labor market and plan accordingly.
48	How competitive is the market not tied to cost of living? Those feel intricately intertwined. Market rates are linked to the costs people needed to live	Same answer as above
49	CIRES/CU has merit increases, but not COLA. Is there any consideration of having a separate process for COLA?	Currently, CU does not offer a COLA. It offers annual increases in the form of either traditional merit allocation (performance pay) or in some years, there has been an across the board paid to eligible employees instead. If there is ever any change there, we will let you know. CIRES has to abide by campus protocols and therefore currently cannot offer COLAs to employees.
50	So will merit-based increases be happening rather than the across the board pay increase that happened last year? I’m confused at this inconsistency.	It has varied year to year, but with the exception of 2021, campus has always had either a merit based increase or an across the board. We will be talking more about the process for January 2025 in the next few months.
51	Maybe you mentioned this in the talk, but did you include tech companies in your survey for job groups like Data Scientist? Perhaps they were around 90th percentile and so your decisions were not affected by that.	Definitely – The survey data from Mercer High Tech survey, Economic Research Institute, and Payfactors all include data from tech companies, among others.
52	If there’s no COLA, how are employees not experiencing a reduction in pay as the cost of living increases over the years? How are merit raises not just keeping employees at the same purchasing power and making people work harder to earn the same relative pay instead of as a reward to hard working employees? Particularly given you as an employer require that employees work from and transport to a specific high cost area.	Same as above. Cost of living increases are no longer a best practice and very few organizations use this method. Overall, cost of living increases do not reward performance and do not support the culture of CIRES. And as a reminder, CU does not currently offer a Cost of Living Increase and CIRES has to abide by that policy. Current CPI/Inflation rate is now lower than the cost of labor. If an employer were to use a philosophy where their pay was linked to inflation, pay would have to be reduced during low inflation and increased during high inflation, which is not a sustainable or competitive practice. Instead, employers focus on the cost of labor, the skill sets required and the supply and demand of those skill sets in the labor market. Employers would never be able to “equalize” the cost of living through employee pay because employees have different consumer spending habits.
53	following up on the inherent AS-III duties including supervisory duties etc. – some of these increases (historically for me) are incredibly low (5%-6% increase for career track). That seems wrong, especially since some AS-III peers aren’t supervising.	The new structure will establish consistency and equity in base pay across CIRES research positions. This is the first major step that has to happen before we can consider other aspects of pay and how that can be managed by current funding sources and within CU protocols.
54	Can we see the ranges of the min/medium/max for each category, as a result of this analysis?	That is planned for the future, but it will take some time before we roll that out.
56	What will happen if we get a more competitive offer elsewhere? WIll CIRES be able to meet it?	It will depend. Per the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, we need to consider equity with existing peers and our internal budgets. While we have a goal of retaining our employees, we have to look at each possible retention situation on a case-by-case basis.
58	Did I miss the ranges? Were those shared?	We plan to share out the ranges in the future, but it will take some time before we roll that out.
59	When considering employees in the new range, were the backgrounds of employees actually taken into account such as previous work experience and additional degrees to be competitive to be hired in the first place?	Those factors (past relevant experience, necessary degrees, experience in the field, etc.) are absolutely considered at the time of hire and used to place you accordingly in the appropriate career track and career track rank. As you move up in career track rank, your earning potential increases.
60	How do they decide how valuable someone is within a range? What determines someone who gets at the high end vs a lower end?	An employee’s salary range is assigned based on their career track rank and functional title. The employee then progresses through that range based on their time in that career track rank and functional title. So less experienced employees would tend to be placed lower than more experienced employees in the same rank and functional title.
61	Will ranges be adjusted up/down based on what the university does in 2025? Will there be another round of adjustments at that time?	We do not have another round of adjustments planned at this time, given CIRES is supporting the budget for these increases over a 3 year period. We will be able to review market data over time and see its impacts on our positions. We’re considering plans on how to respond to any potential future responses knowing that any future adjustments must be supported by current funding sources.
62	Will people with PhDs be getting higher salaries than those without?	The Research Scientist ranges reflect a requirement of the PhD, which is a minimum requirement for those roles and therefore there can be a higher market value for those positions. Market salary data is reflective of the qualifications required to carry out the individual role. Typically, the higher the expertise and education required to fulfill the role, the range would increase accordingly. However, if someone has a PhD, but their job doesn’t necessarily require that level of education, then the salary assigned would not be higher on the basis of the employee having a PhD. Salaries are set based on the position qualifications and the market value of that required skillset.
63	If there is a raise, will a merit increase apply to that higher adjusted salary?	Yes, we’re timing the increases so that all recipients will be eligible for a January 2025 merit increase if they are otherwise eligible for merit.
64	How can we be assured that there isn’t a mistake in the October adjustment if we don’t know the ranges	The ranges alone would not tell you what your individual salary should be. This is part of the reason why this project takes time and has to be vetted thoroughly by multiple individuals, including review by Employers Council, several layers of review at campus HR, and then final reviews with Research Faculty HR and Employee Services before all is finalized and uploaded into payroll.
65	If the place and range of employees is not determined yet how will this be implemented Oct 1?	We have until mid-October to finalize all payroll data retroactive to an effective date of 10/1/24. This is a typical timeline for all monthly payroll adjustments.
66	What message is being sent to an employee who has underperformed in the past two ASA periods but will be slated for a salary increase now?	These adjustments are about the position and not the person. These are to align our positions’ pay appropriately based on the functional area of work and required qualifications. Establishing the structure and aligning any pay that is not yet aligned is a one-time adjustment. After that, merit (performance pay) will again take over. If someone’s performance is struggling, that is managed separately through the performance rating and resulting merit allocation process in which they may or may not be eligible depending on their overall rating.
67	To clarify, does the merit raise % factor apply to the new salary in Oct or to the older salary?	Anyone receiving an increase in October 2024 will remain eligible for a merit increase in January 2025, assuming they are eligible for merit. The January 2025 merit pay will then be based on the employee’s October 1 salary.
68	With the new total rewards philosophy, are other changes anticipated to the other parts of the “total reward” beyond these base pay structure changes?	Not at this time. If so, most of those other components, such as benefits and retirement, would be defined at the CU System level. Work modality, schedule, etc., would be a more local discussion with your supervisor and immediate CIRES unit.
69	Are the salary ranges posted in CU job postings (for CIRES) the min and max that ultimately was defined (with the target being the midpoint of that range?)	No, the job ad ranges represent a portion of the range that applies to the range in which we plan to hire at the advertised rank and the final salary is dependent upon the finalist’s qualifications and internal equity of existing peers.
70	A core tenant of “inclusive” processes are letting those impacted by the decisions have a chance to give feedback (i.e. procedural justice). Will there be a chance for those impacted by these decisions to provide feedback?	Thank you for this question. You are welcome to offer feedback on this or any CIRES initiative through the Anonymous Feedback mechanism. CIRES leadership takes all input seriously, and we appreciate your time in sharing it.
70	How does the median market point actually compare to the minimum and maximums of the AS/RS ranges?	How does the median market point actually compare to the minimum and maximums of the AS/RS ranges? The 50th percentile, identified in the market data, is what CIRES uses to establish the midpoint, and ultimately calculate the minimum and maximum of the established range.