Competitive benefits and wages
What would be the most effective way to gather information on knowing if you school offers competitive wages and benefit packages?
Benchmarking is a process that would allow you to compare your specific salaries to other equivalent organizations. In many industries there are organizations that can provide this data for a small fee.
Are you aware of any websites that can offer this information?
By comparing benefits and wages in similar schools to your own and by evaluating if yours look favorable might be a good start IMHO. I would also want to take into account how specialized the teaching topic is and how important a long term background in the field would be.
Xander,
Thank you for your post. The law of supply and demand does play a big part in determining the appropriate benefits and wages for faculty members. Attracting high quality faculty members in fields in which there is a greater demand that supply can be a challenge. In what areas do you have the most difficulty identifying candidates right now?
There are several websites that allow you to compare salary and benefit information for specific jobs in your geographic area. Another method would be to contact other schools in the area to compare your school's salary and benefits with theirs. The online method is easiest and it takes a lot less time.
Brandi,
Thank you for participating in this discussion. One of the tougher things that I have had to face was the salary differential between those who work in the industry and those who chose to work in education. Often candidates expected salaries similar to what they were able to earn in their fields. How do you address this type of issue?
It has been a constant battle when hiring. The candidates I have interviewed in the past expect to make what they are making out in the industry. I explain to them that they will be teaching not working out in the elements, breaking their backs. also the hours they are actually teaching is alot less then when they are out doing labor jobs. Some understand some dont. I found my best hires were the people who have had enough of breaking their backs and are ready and financially able to pass there experiences along to students
Jeff,
Thanks for this post. It is sometimes difficult for career schools to compete with industry on salary. Even when we pay a competitive wage relative to other schools, our salaries can seem low to those outside of our field.
One recommendation I have followed is to talk salary in general terms very early in the process so that those who will not consider working for what educators make are eliminated early in the process.
Consider focusing on the work environment and the ability to change students' lives. Individuals interested in that are the ones we want to hire.
I look forward to interacting with you in the other discussion forums.
At the institution that I work right now, we just finished analyzing how our wages and benefit packages compare to other similar institutions in the area. The campus director, who was conducting the analysis, set the fallowing plan of action:
• First, he set up a team of 4 people representing each areas of the school. One to represent the professors, one to represent the administration, one two represent the academic services and one to represent the upper management team.
• Second, the team was asked to research the job searched web pages, employment ads in newspaper and magazines, for wages and benefits packages around the area where we are to see how we compete with other institution. Everyone was as to remember our site and to compare with similar institutions in the area. It took the team almost two months to collect all the information with the help of a consulting firm that we use for our staffing practices.
• Third, a group of students from a Human Recourses class from our master level courses offer to help by doing a survey among our competition institutions.
• Finally, the two teams delivered a report with data and comparisons that are now being analyzed by our board members.
This may not be the most effective way, but so far, it was very simple and it is working for us!
Thank you for this post, Aristides. The project seemed well-planned and effective, ensuring your team is aware of the appropriate compensation level for your faculty members.
The most effective way to gather information is to benchmark other schools. In addition, check out websites that provide salary, location and positions.
Do a competitive analysis to determine who are the other employers in the area, what the compensation is at each, what are the benefits for each. Use this as a baseline, along with fiscal information to determine competitive packages to utilize in the hiring process. This practice can aid in guiding the hiring process, and staying competitive.
It would be comparing other schools that offers or is similar to ours. Also looking at salary ranges in our county for similar jobs.
Elaine,
Sometimes it is difficult to compete simply on wages. What are some of the good things about your school that you can offer potential instructors other than salary?
Jeffrey Schillinger
asking area managers . performing a market analysis.
excellent resources for instructors.
tution reimbursement for continuing education
seminar training .
