UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Human Resources (HR) continues to make progress on the compensation modernization initiative. On par with the rest of the nation, Penn State faces significant challenges in staffing and recruiting employees. Despite these challenges -- such as the pandemic, quickly changing trends in the job market, and other issues -- University officials remain focused on updating the compensation and career structures for staff as one critical step in attracting the best talent and retaining valued staff members. To complete this work fully and accurately, the project timeline is being extended through 2022.
Penn State’s compensation modernization initiative, which began in August 2020, is a large-scale project to update the University’s compensation and career structures for staff positions. Through a series of steps that involve many components, including the evaluation of job descriptions, titles, levels and broader market comparisons, the effort is aimed at creating current, competitive compensation structures and supportive career development resources for staff members.
“The compensation modernization initiative is a crucial effort that has the full support of executive leadership at Penn State,” said Nick Jones, executive vice president and provost. “The University sees significant opportunities for enhancements in the areas of staffing structures and recruiting, and this has had a substantial impact on the timing of the initiative. We remain committed to achieving the extensive goals laid out at the start of this effort.”
The Job Architecture phase of the initiative is complete, according to HR officials. This involved a complete review of staff positions and updates to structures that categorize these positions. The completion of this phase enables a full assessment of staff salaries compared to the market and sets the stage for new career development resources, designed to give staff members visibility into potential growth opportunities across the University.
“I want our staff members to know that our every effort in this project is set on improving our services so they can thrive here at Penn State,” said Jennifer Wilkes, interim vice president for Human Resources and chief human resources officer. “Even in the face of unforeseen challenges, we remain committed to completing this essential work and will keep updating the Penn State staff community as we are able. We appreciate employee’s patience as we continue to move forward.”
As the initiative continues throughout the year, staff can expect to see new career planning resources, designed to give them visibility into possible career paths at Penn State.
University staff can also anticipate follow-up articles in Penn State News and updates on the initiative microsite.