TTC Project and Long-Term Strategies

Chief Human Resources Officer Mark Walters emailed the following message to academic staff, university staff and limited appointees.

UW–Madison Colleague,

Our new job title and compensation structure is now in place. This is the result of the Title and Total Compensation (TTC) Project framework we implemented in early November. This project spanned five years and included engagement with multiple stakeholder groups including shared governance, subject matter experts, human resources partners, and campus leadership. More information may be found on the TTC Project website.

Prior to this change, the university did not have a consistent job title- and market-informed compensation structure. This hindered our ability to compare campus positions to the labor markets. With the new TTC structure in place, we can now effectively understand how our positions compare to jobs with similar duties. This provides us the ability to identify where our positions are not competitive and subsequently develop strategies to address these issues.

Over the last number of weeks, the TTC Team has been reviewing the issues that have surfaced as the new structure takes hold. This is a normal part of the process when new title and compensation structures are implemented. Over the next six months, we will work to resolve the various issues, where appropriate, and continue to refine the new structure. Of course, employees can also appeal their title placement through a formal appeal process. The deadline to submit a job title appeal is December 31, 2021.

What are the next steps with the TTC Project?

Build Compensation Strategies

Based on our new, modernized title and compensation structure, we can now develop long-term strategies to address compensation challenges (where the university lags behind peers, misalignment of salary relationships for employees in the same title, etc.). As we did with faculty salaries, making changes will not be immediate because it requires strategic, long-term budget planning. In 2022, the university will identify the various compensation issues and develop plans to methodically address the challenges.

Pursue Benefits Enhancements

In 2022, the TTC Project will continue its long-term strategy to develop benefits enhancements for employees. This is part of the “total compensation” strategy we identified before the delay with the pandemic. We will resume developing options informed by employee preferences and by what our competitors offer (see Benefits Preferences Survey and Benefits Valuation Analysis). We will also consider recommendations from the recent Caregiving Task Force, which includes faculty and staff from across the UW System, and pursue enhancements based on our pandemic experience. More information will be coming in 2022 as we build our strategy for enhancements.

The resources below provide a wealth of information about the TTC Project, including the new job framework.

The official Title and Standard Job Description Library: designed with an employee perspective in mind, the library allows employees to filter job descriptions by salary grades, titles, job groups, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): contains questions the TTC team has been receiving from both employees and campus stakeholders.
Salary Grade Tables: contain the new salary grades 15 through 35, with ability to filter by academic, annual, or hourly pay ranges.
What Is a Salary Structure?: provides a basic overview of the new compensation structure. More information and resources will be added to this page as they are developed.
TTC Job Title Appeals Page: provides resources for the appeal process, along with the link to the appeal online submission form.

Watch for future TTC information as the project activities continue to evolve in 2022. Thank you for your continued commitment to UW–Madison.

Sincerely,

Mark Walters

Chief Human Resources Officer

Did you find what you need?