UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State is concluding its Compensation Modernization initiative with the assignment of new salary grades to all staff positions and a multimillion-dollar investment to better align staff salaries to the new salary grades.
While the numbers are still being finalized, Penn State anticipates investing over $17.6 million to better align staff salaries with the new salary structure. Penn State also is setting aside an estimated $42.6 million for additional adjustments for some staff positions.
“From the beginning of this initiative several years ago, we have been focused on developing a new compensation program that will allow for competitive staff salaries and more flexibility for executives to adjust salaries in their unit for high-performing staff, and to recruit and retain the best employees,” said Jennifer Wilkes, vice president for Human Resources and chief human resources officer. “I know it has been a long journey to get to this point, but I’m thankful that the University has committed to making this historic investment in our staff.”
These increases will assist in the conversion of staff into a completely new salary structure, said Wilkes.
“While this new structure provides us tools to more easily remain aligned with current market standards for our staff compensation, it’s important to note that the vast majority of our staff members are already compensated within or above their new pay grade. Increases are not guaranteed for all,” she said.
The University will continue to assess the pay and position classification structure to maintain competitiveness with industry benchmarks.
Staff members will receive an email from Penn State Human Resources on Wednesday reminding them of their new job profile and level, which also will be available starting Wednesday through the full-time staff job catalog, along with the corresponding salary grade that aligns with their level.
All job profile changes and any compensation adjustments will be effective March 1. Staff should expect to have visibility to the updates in Workday in late March.
Designed to be more precise than the University’s previous salary bands, the grades were developed using data from more than 10 distinct salary surveys, drawing from both industry and higher education sources.
“Under the previous compensation guidelines, a staff member would often need to change jobs, complete a new Job Responsibilities Worksheet or take on supervisory responsibilities to obtain a salary increase,” Wilkes said. “Now, with the completion of the Compensation Modernization initiative, high-performing staff may be able to grow in their role without moving to a new job through the new staff promotion process.”
The Compensation Modernization initiative began in 2020 and has been a multi-year effort to modernize Penn State’s compensation and career structures related to staff positions. While these historic investments in staff salaries mark the conclusion of the initiative, these adjustments are a significant step in moving forward with the University’s goal of maintaining its position as an employer of choice in a rapidly changing job market.