HUMAN RESOURCES

Policy 40190: In-Band Adjustments for Classified Staff

1. Purpose

This documents sets forth policy and procedural information relative to In-Band salary adjustments for full- and part-time classified staff. The purpose of this document is to detail local implementation of this pay practice, to include pay factors to consider and other eligibility criteria.

2. Policy

The Compensation Philosophy of Germanna Community College is to attract and pay employees in a manner sufficient to support, develop and maintain a high performance workforce that provides quality services in a fiscally responsible manner, including the provision of enriching and life-long learning opportunities to students within its service region. The following plan for administering In-Band Adjustments is designed to support this philosophy.

The Compensation Policy of Germanna Community College is the same as State policy for In-Band Adjustments, and is intended to augment the VCCS Salary Administration Plan.

3. Procedures

a. General Guidelines. An In-Band salary adjustment is initiated when an employee demonstrates increased value due to a change in duties; attainment of additional education; an increase in knowledge, skill, abilities; or attainment of a professional certification or licensure that is applicable to their work duties and responsibilities. It is also initiated for retention or internal alignment purposes. The position to which the employee is assigned does not change.

In accordance with State policy, In-Band Adjustments are non-competitive, and an employee may receive from 0 to 10% increase in salary within a fiscal year (i.e., July 1 – June 30). The College requires all employees be rated at the Contributor level or higher to be eligible for any type of adjustment.

In addition, VCCS policy has authorized the College to approve In-Band Adjustments and In-Band Bonuses for positions assigned up to Pay Band 3.

In-Band Adjustments should typically be implemented within 90 days of the event that marks the employee’s change in value. The rate of change in base pay will vary based on the reason for the In-Band Adjustment. The adjustments specified in this document may be exceeded and/or changed only by authority of the President. In no case will adjustments of more than 10% be considered.

Each In-Band Adjustment request must be approved through the College’s management chain, namely: the Unit Supervisor, the Director or Reviewer, the Dean, and the College President. Prior to final approval by the President, the Human Resources Officer must confirm that the request is in compliance with State and College requirements, and is appropriate for implementation. The Unit Supervisor must then ensure that adequate financial resources exist within the current budget to fund the In-Band Adjustment. The Budget Officer or other higher-level administrator will certify funding availability.

College rates for In-Band Adjustments will vary, depending on the type of adjustment. The work unit must provide documentation as to the basis of the adjustment, and data to support the requested adjustment amount. Upon approval, the In-Band Adjustment request will be transacted in PMIS by the Human Resources Office, and then forwarded to the Payroll Office for final implementation. In-Band Adjustment requests will be accepted by the Human Resources Office on a quarterly basis.

b. In-Band Adjustment Categories and Implementation Process.

1. Change in duties: A base pay increase for assuming new duties or changes in duties for at least a 180-day period. The purpose of this salary increase is to recognize an employee's increase in responsibility without having to reclassify the position to a higher role/pay band.

The change in base salary will be variable, and based on the level of duties and responsibilities added to an employee/position. These additions must reflect at least a 15% permanent change in duties and responsibilities, in order to be considered significant enough to warrant an In-Band adjustment. An In-Band Adjustment of 3-5% is allowed for this reason. A permanent change in duties and responsibilities beyond 50% will necessitate a Role Change.

In-Band Adjustments for changes in duties must be based on documentation that verifies what changes have occurred. The source of this documentation is the Employee Work Profile and Pay Action Worksheet. In addition, a narrative justification memorandum that supports this documentation, verifies what duty changes have occurred, and states why reallocation is not applicable must be submitted through the College’s aforementioned approval and verification process.

2. Retention: A base pay increase to retain an employee who occupies critical or key position in the agency and who may otherwise seek outside employment. This can be used if the position has historically experienced a high level of turnover as defined by state standards, and where an incumbent’s pay is out of line (i.e., significantly below) the external labor market.

The College will consider each an In-Band Adjustment due to retention on a case-by-case basis. The rate of adjustment will be variable, not to exceed the market rate, the 10% maximum set by State policy, and the work unit’s ability to fund the increase.

All retention adjustments, regardless of the percentage of increase requested, will require the work unit to provide a justification document containing market and turnover data verifying that the employee’s current salary is out of line with the external labor market rate, and justifying the amount of increase requested. The Unit Supervisor and Director or Reviewer must also demonstrate that the position is critical to service delivery, and how the loss of the incumbent would impact service delivery or quality in a manner that could not be overcome by a timely filling of the vacancy with another qualified applicant.

If retention adjustments are requested for a group of positions in the same role, the Unit Supervisor and Director or Reviewer must document, through information requested from the Office of Human Resources; the number of vacancies experienced in the past three years; the starting pay rates used to fill the vacancies; and the College's efforts to recruit to fill the vacancies during this period. Data relative to the number of qualified applicants responding to recruitments for the past three years must also be included. This information should be prepared in a narrative justification memorandum, and directed to the Human Resources Officer for review. If appropriate, the request will then continue through the College’s aforementioned approval process.

3. Internal Alignment: A base pay increase is appropriate when an employee is significantly under paid relative to the weighted average of the market salary mean. A base pay increase is also appropriate when an employee is significantly under paid relative to other employees within the agency who have comparable skill sets, levels of education and training, as well as similar responsibilities, expertise and performance levels.

The Unit Supervisor or Director must identify the equity problem based on the internal equity criteria or external labor market data, as identified by the Human Resources Officer. There must be data to verify the problem. This information shall be the basis for the amount of the proposed adjustment.

The Human Resources Officer must then confirm the equity problem. The request will subsequently continue though the aforementioned approval process, along with documentation to support the adjustment and amount. The rate of adjustment will be variable, not to exceed the 10% maximum set by State policy. Before the request is transacted in the PMIS and payroll systems, the Unit Supervisor verifies their ability to fund the increase to the Budget Officer.

In the instance that a pay equity issue is first identified by the Human Resources Officer, and/or that multiple work units may be impacted, the Unit Supervisor(s), Director(s) or Reviewer(s), and Deans will be advised. This type of far-reaching equity adjustment must be supported by both Deans and approved by the President. The Budget Officer must also verify that College funding exists to support the adjustment(s).

4. Professional/Skill Development: A base pay increase for acquiring job-related training and education that enhances an employee’s level of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Since this is an adjustment to base pay, only those professional/skill developments not subject to renewal will qualify for this type of compensation action. Specifically, employees must attain an Associate’s Degree, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, Doctoral Degree, or a significant professional licensure or certification. Credentials that are requirements for a job by State Code, or are required for selection and taken into consideration at the time starting pay is negotiated, cannot be used as a basis to support subsequent compensation adjustments.

An employee’s pay may be increased provided that the Unit Supervisor and Director or Reviewer confirm the training or educational goal has been formally planned for and identified on the Employee Work Profile and/or an employee’s Individual Development Plan; fulfills a current or future business need of the College; is job-related; and can enhance performance. The education or skill development must be verifiable based on transcripts or other records from an accredited educational institution or recognized local, state, federal or privately sanctioned organization which administers exams, tests, or proficiency assessments to determine competency. Completion of an educational or training program does not guarantee and may not warrant an In-Band Adjustment. In determining the appropriateness of an In-Band Adjustment, the College will consider to what extent it funded the employee’s professional development activities. All In-band Adjustments due to professional/skill development will be transacted as a 3% base salary adjustment.

The Unit Supervisor and Director or Reviewer must submit justification for this adjustment through the aforementioned approval and verification process.

c. In-Band Bonuses. For all categories of In-Band Adjustments, increases may be provided as an In-Band Bonus, rather than as a base pay increase. In accordance with State policy, this option may be used as an interim measure, when budget constraints require time to develop funding to support a base-pay salary adjustment. No In-Band Bonuses may be awarded to employees at the top of the Pay Band.

4. References

Department of Human Resource Management, Human Resource Policy 3.05: Compensation (March 1, 2001).

Virginia Community College System, Salary Administration Plan (December 1, 2000).

Virginia Community College System, Guidelines for In-Band Adjustments for Classified Staff (May 16, 2001).

5. Definitions

a. In-Band Adjustment - salary adjustment initiated when employee demonstrates increased professional value in their position, retention or equity purposes.

b. In-Band Bonus – compensation provided as a one-time payment, rather than as a base pay increase.

6. Point of Contact

Created by Alicia A. Roberts, Human Resources Officer: (540) 727-3101.

7. Approval and Revision Dates

a. Approved by President’s Council on August 6, 2001.

b. Effective May 16, 2001.