An old article on the state of promotions at Oneonta
Article in the January 2007 newsletter.
Professionals at the College at Oneonta have done a tremendous job of turning this college into a highly ranked, highly selective college. Professionals make up a large portion of the members of United University Professions at about 267 strong. They work in a myriad of offices that directly affect the day to day lives of students, the operations of the college, as well as the yearly goals of the college and are directly responsible for the success or failure of the mission of the college.
From screening applications, and choosing the new class, getting them financial aid, collecting their money, putting them in classes, getting them a place to live, to living with them and overseeing their social growth, professionals are there.
Most professionals work year round, on a year long cycle. To most, the summer is just as busy as the rest of the year, and it is a time to change. The jobs of professionals are constantly changing. As the college embraces new technologies, professionals must change how they work, taking on new roles and responsibilities. There has never been a year when the main program the college uses, BANNER, has not changed, and without missing a beat, like a Darwinian form of evolution, professionals change.
Professionals learn, grow and take on new challenges. As they do this, they become more valuable to the college. As professionals take on more duties and responsibilities they are then eligible for more compensation in the form of a promotion a salary increase or both. Because professionals cannot apply for discretionary salary increases, with the exception of Directors, they could theoretically work their entire career receiving only the union negotiated raises. They grow, change, learn and contribute to the college, and are happy to do the work they do, their job just changes gradually, so a salary increase is hard to get.
Many professionals have grown, changed, and taken on more work, and have been rewarded with a raise and usually a title change. Raises are traditionally a private transaction that takes place between the employee and the supervisor and the unit director or VP, with a lot of help from Human Resources. Most raises come about when the employee and the supervisor bring compelling written evidence to the VP, resulting in a raise. In one case, the compelling evidence was dismissed, and only after intervention by the President, were the raises granted. These ‘forced’ raises, were not reflected in the salary comparison. And sadly, for some, their hard fought raises were followed by their exit from the college.
A comparison of the salaries of professionals who were on the payroll from January of 2003 to November of 2007, was conducted.
In January of 2003 there were 210 professionals working on campus.
Of the 210 professionals, 39 made less than $3,000 per year, so they were not counted in the comparison, leaving 171 professionals.
Of the 171, 12 work part time and 159 work full time. This includes professionals on 10 month contracts- (residence hall directors.)
Currently there are 266 professionals working at Oneonta.
Of the 266 professionals, 41 of them make less than $3,000 per year, so they were not counted, leaving 225 professionals. Of the 225, 14 work part time and 211 work fill time. This includes people on 10 month contracts. Because some of the part time employees are still here, they were included.
Of the 225 professionals who currently work here:
100 are in Student Development (SD)
61 are in Finance and Administration (FA)
46 are in Academic Affairs (AA)
15 are in College Advancement (CA)
3 are in Other area (College Radio Station)
Of these 225 professionals, 111, or 49% of them, were here in January of 2003, this includes 14 that work part time.
Here is the breakdown by division, of these111 professionals:
SD has 100 professionals, 36 have been here since January 03, or 36%
FA has 61 professionals, 37 have been here since January 03, or 60%
AA has 46 professionals, 33 have been here since January 03, or 67%
CA has 15 professionals, 5 have been here since January 03, or 33%
In an attempt to study raises for professionals I came to the realization that there is no formal paperwork forwarded to the Union office indicating that a person has received a raise.
The only way to determine if a person received a raise, is to look for a change in salary. I compared January 2003 to November of this year. There are a few things that made it hard to define a raise. Everyone’s salary increased due to union negotiated raises, and some professionals receive discretionary salary increases. Those that get recommended by their supervisor for DSI get them in differing amounts.
I used a 15% increase in salary over the past 5 years as a benchmark for determining a raise. I spot-checked the data by reviewing our files that showed DSI award amounts and also factored in the Union negotiated raises.
Of the 111 professionals still here, 60 of them appeared to have been given a raise using the 15% benchmark. Remove the three professionals who changed their jobs and titles in a competitive search for a new position, and the 5 forced raises, the numbers change. Of the 103 professionals in this group, 52 of them appeared to have earned a raise.
Here is the breakdown of raises:
Of the 30 in SD, 9 received a raise or 30%
Of the 36 in FA, 18 received a raise or 58%
Of the 32 in AA, 20 received a raise or 66%
Of the 5 in CA, 3 received a raise 60%
Observations:
Many positions have been added over the years, and many of them have been in the SD and the CA area.
Professionals in the AA area, seem tied to technology and have to change more with technology, they become more valuable as they stay here. Professionals in the FA area are tied to technology and finance, which allow great growth and an increase in value to the college.
The lower percent of raises in SD might be explained by the high turn over in the Residence Life (SD) as the 15 residence hall directors come and go, but 3 of the 9, or 30% of the raises in SD came from the Residence Life area.
As a professional, if you plan to stay at Oneonta for longer than five years, it is better to have a job in AA, FA, or CA.
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