IMPORTANT NOTE: As of March 7, 2014, the job classification initiative will be postponed from fall quarter 2014 to winter quarter 2015. Please see the announcement on the initiative website: http://uhr.stanford.edu/job-classification-initiative.

The job descriptions of staff members in non-bargaining unit positions across the university are being reviewed and rewritten as part of a University Human Resources initiative aimed at establishing a simplified and streamlined job classification system, introducing a new pay structure tied to the external market, and creating career path descriptions to assist staff in navigating their careers.

The Center of Expertise Job Classification Initiative, led by UHR’s Staff Compensation team, is underway to formulate fair and equitable job classification practices and a new market-based pay structure. The first phase of the multi-year initiative includes reviewing, rewriting and creating job descriptions using a sample of 1,500 currently existing job descriptions and standardizing them through the adoption of a common template.

This is one of several updates aimed at keeping employees informed about a key initiative that has broad impact. To help staff members understand the multi-year initiative and how it will affect them, Linda Faris, Associate Vice President of Staff Compensation, answers the top frequently asked questions.

1. Why are we moving to standardized job descriptions across the university?
   The purpose of standardizing job descriptions is to identify and define common and consistent jobs across the university for each staff position. Standardized job descriptions will ensure that a job description for a level one financial analyst in one school or unit, for example, mirrors the job description for the same position in schools and units across the university. The standardized job descriptions will then serve as a foundation for our new market-based pay structure.
2. What does the new job description template include?
   The new job description template focuses on capturing the minimum requirements to perform the job and the essential duties of the job that promote comparable matching to competitive market pay.
   The new job description template includes these main components
   • Job summary/purpose
   • Essential duties/functions
   • Competencies
   • Minimum requirements
   • Working conditions
   • Physical requirements
   • Work standards

   The template is not intended to be a manual on how to do your job, a personalized job duty list customized for a specific individual, nor a performance management tool.

3. Who is involved in writing and establishing standardized job descriptions?
   This initiative calls for university-wide involvement. UHR’s Staff Compensation team, along with staff from SLAC and School of Medicine are completing the preliminary job description drafts based on job descriptions submitted by HR representatives throughout the university. Staff Compensation will continue gathering input across the university and refining the job descriptions into a final version using a focus-group approach with managers. Management involvement is especially important in the job description phase. Their input will help to clarify existing job families, identify commonalities among similar jobs across campus, update or eliminate obsolete jobs, establish realistic and essential functions of jobs, and differentiate distinct levels within job families.
4. What does the focus group approach include?
   Staff Compensation will gather input through focus group meetings, which will soon be underway with managers and other subject matter experts in schools and units across the university. In the meetings, the focus group will review, confirm, and/or edit the essential duties/functions, competencies and minimum requirements for the jobs, and ultimately help refine the job descriptions into final versions.
5. Will there be new job descriptions for all staff positions?
   Yes. The job descriptions of all staff positions will be migrated into a new common template. Through this migration, the job descriptions for staff positions are being compiled, reviewed, updated and reformatted to highlight essential duties and functions, competencies and minimum requirements, among other items. This process will result in new job descriptions for all non-bargaining unit staff positions.
6. To what degree will my job description change? What about my job title?
   The degree to which job descriptions will change will vary from position to position across the university. Some job descriptions already follow a similar style and format to that of the new common template, so changes may be minor. Other job descriptions will be completely overhauled to ensure standardization. It is also possible that a staff member’s job title could change as a result of this process, which aims to ensure consistent job titling for like positions throughout the university.
7. Are the current A, P, and M pay grades going away?
   Yes. The current A (Administrative), P (Professional), and M (Managerial) job classification approach will be replaced with a new market-based pay structure and new pay grades. The new standard job description template will ensure we have an adequate, accurate foundation to link with competitive market pay.
8. What happens after the job description standardization is completed?
   Once this phase is completed, Staff Compensation will turn its attention to analyzing market pay for those jobs. The second phase aims to establish a new pay structure to increase the market competitiveness of staff jobs and ensure fair and equitable pay.

LEARN MORE

Read more about the Center of Expertise Job Classification Initiative.

TELL US

Is there something you want to know more about? Tell us your idea and help us serve you better. Email jobclassificationmythbusters@stanford.edu

WORD ON THE STREET

Laura David, Human Resources Manager in the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE), anticipates value in the Center of Expertise Job Classification Initiative for her area and beyond. Standardized job descriptions will save managers time in writing and updating job descriptions, said David. Moreover, being involved in the initiative will help expand managers' understanding of how a well-defined job description maps to employee pay, and increase their ability to communicate salary information to their staff more comfortably and knowledgeably. In addition to managers, David said staff should care about the initiative and its resulting benefits.

"In various ways, staff members have been asking for more transparency with regard to their job classifications, and are seeking a better understanding of how this classification relates to their compensation. Managers are also a bit unclear about exact differences between one classification and the next level," said David. "I'm hopeful that the new classification system with more consistent job descriptions will easily communicate these differences, as well as the relationship to pay and the outside job market. Additionally, some managers are just much better at writing job descriptions, and are better at articulating the scope, impact and other "critical factors" that go into the classification decision. With pre-written templates, employees should feel more confident that they are not being disadvantaged by a job description and classification that was not clearly communicated."