Review of Classified Staff Paygrades - March 2006

Human Resources conducts an annual comprehensive review of salary grades for all classified staff job titles. This involves gathering and analyzing relevant market data, projecting grade changes where indicated by market data, estimating the initial required cost of possible grade changes, and communicating the results to the university community.

The three state universities in Arizona all started with the same classification and compensation system in 1990. While the system is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents, each university has made changes to the way the system is used in order to meet their business needs over the years. These types of changes include adding unique classifications, modifying the grade minimum rates, adding new grades, and re-grading jobs to reflect changes in the employment market.

Either option can be an appropriate method to adjust a pay system, depending on the needs of the employer. The pay schedule for all three state universities is essentially the same, though the exact dollar amounts for the minimums and maximums may vary. In particular, the grade midpoints, which are critical pay target points, are exactly the same. A major overhaul of the pay schedule would require consensus from all three universities and the Arizona Board of Regents. For this reason, it is more effective and efficient for the University of Arizona to use the existing schedule and re-grade classifications.

There are 516 active classified staff job titles. Of these, 187 have been re-graded effective March 13, 2006, and the remaining titles retain their existing grades.

A re-grade will not necessarily automatically require a pay adjustment. In most cases, departments should increase employee salaries that fall below the minimum of the new range at the time of the re-grade. However, in those instances where funding is not immediately available, departments will have up to twelve months from the official re-grade effective date to increase employees' salaries to the range minimum. Additionally, departments may choose to initiate a pay increase to mitigate internal disparity or external market pressures.

Materials relating to the result of re-grade will be posted on the Human Resources web site. These materials include an alphabetical list of classified staff job titles, updated job descriptions, a list of titles that have been re-graded, and a list of titles that have not been re-graded.

A variety of factors are analyzed including relevant external market data and existing internal relationships between job titles. As a result, some job titles required an adjustment in the grade, and some job titles were determined to be appropriately graded.

Pay grade assignments cannot be appealed.

The new grades must be used for all employment actions (i.e., job postings, employment offers, transfers, etc.) beginning on or after March 13, 2006.