Compensation Study
Introduction
The Loyola University Maryland community has been actively engaged in the creation of a shared vision and strategic plan for the future of the University. Our final 2023 – 2030 Strategic Plan articulates a vision for Loyola’s future, provides direction and sets priorities looking forward to 2030.
At the commencement of the strategic planning process, one of the questions President Sawyer asked our community to think about was “How can employment issues specific to higher education be innovatively addressed, making Loyola a place where people feel valued and love to work?”
As part of our response to President Sawyer’s question, in late spring 2023, Loyola began an important initiative to engage in a Staff and Administrator compensation study. Our objective is to ensure Loyola provides a fair, equitable, competitive, transparent, compliant, and fiscally responsible compensation delivery system. We know that such a compensation delivery system can contribute to making Loyola a place where our people feel valued, love to work, and want to spend a career contributing to the achievement of our strategic goals and the fulfillment of our mission.
Overview
The 2023-2024 study consists of six key components.
- Compensation Philosophy
- Job Architecture
- Peer Group Refresh & Market Assessment
- Pay Equity Analysis
- Salary Structure
- Implementation Plan
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Compensation Philosophy Refresh |
Job Architecture Titling/Career Paths Framework |
Salary Market Assessment |
Pay Equity Analysis |
Salary Structure Update and Cost Analysis |
Final Results/ Implementation |
| Request and review data/materials | Review existing staff job structure | Develop best practices and benchmarking methodology | Data collection | Revise market - informed pay grades and ranges | Revise pay administration guidelines |
| Gather stakeholder input - timing to be decided | Develop job families | Match benchmark jobs to surveys | Pay equity analysis | Assign jobs to pay grades using market data | Review pay administration guidelines |
| Refresh compensation philosophy | Create job level and titles framework | Conduct market match reviews | Review outliers | Validate recommendations | Develop comprehensive report |
| Review peer group | Validate job architecture | Conduct market assessment referencing living wage calculators | Report of findings and recommendations | Finalize pay grades and pay structure | Implementation plan/ road map recommendations |
| Develop career path maps | Review initial market assessment | Determine estimated costs, for two overall target points | |||
| Report of findings and observations | Determine findings and recommendations | Report of salary structure recommendations |
Compensation Philosophy
We started the compensation study with an examination of the emerging 2023-2030 Strategic Plan. We considered how our compensation philosophy needed to embrace the focus points of this Strategic Plan and reflect contemporary compensation practices. Our intent is for Loyola’s compensation philosophy to clearly establish and communicate the design, administration, comparator market and funding principles for our updated compensation delivery system. With input from senior leadership and the Loyola community, a compensation philosophy was developed. Below we provide key excerpts from our compensation philosophy.
Overview
Loyola seeks to provide a fair, equitable, competitive, transparent, compliant, and fiscally responsible compensation program. At the same time, we strive to balance our investment in base pay with the investments we make in support of other factors to attract, engage and retain our staff and administrators. Additionally, we provide a competitive total compensation package which includes base pay and a comprehensive benefits package. Our benefits encourage health and wellbeing, continuous development through our tuition remission program, security in retirement and paid time off programs.
Components of Pay
The base pay for our roles represents the value of the position in the market and the impact of the role within the context of the Loyola community. On occasion we may provide special awards to recognize outstanding individual or team achievement that leads to the fulfillment of our mission and strategic goals.
External/Internal Equity
Loyola’s compensation program balances external competitiveness and internal equity, while being fiscally responsible and attentive to our budget resources and long-term financial sustainability.
Pay Structure
Our compensation structure and pay ranges are developed using competitive market data, as defined by our comparison markets, which may vary depending upon the market(s) in which we compete for specific talent.
Position Evaluation
Compensation is based on the position’s responsibilities, scope, experience/education requirements, and other job factors. Positions are assigned to a pay range based on market rate, with consideration for internal equity. Human Resources reviews internal equity among similar positions within the University to make consistent recommendations.
Pay Transparency
The University is transparent about key tenets of the compensation program, engaging, and encouraging dialogue through the Loyola Conference and appropriate governing bodies to ensure understanding of the program. The rationale for all program changes is clearly stated to all involved participants. Compensation information is shared through the Loyola Conference where employees have the opportunity to voice concerns.
Job Architecture
One deliverable of this study was the development of a framework for professional career development and career pathing, aligned with Loyola’s strategic plan for 2030, Together We Rise. Concurrent with our compensation philosophy, a job framework with job families and subfamilies for staff and administrators was developed. This framework includes a job leveling and titling structure and allows staff and administrators to envision career development opportunities (vertical and lateral) across the University.
Job architecture provides visibility into how jobs at Loyola are organized. The job architecture reflects both industry market practice, as well as the internal needs and characteristics of the organization, and is independent of organizational reporting structure.
Loyola’s job architecture creates transparency, consistency, and allows for greater employee understanding of career pathways, development, and opportunities.
Transparency, Consistency and Equity |
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Clear Linkage to Market |
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Essential Tools for HR and Managers |
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Components to the Loyola job architecture include:
Job Level Groups
Job levels create a consistent internal structure for Loyola and define the relative responsibilities, scope, complexity, and requirements of staff and administrator jobs by level. Job levels are part of the job architecture and support career development at Loyola.
| Support | Professional | Supervisory | Management | Leadership |
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Individual contributors who support operational, functional, or business strategy through tactical support of daily activities (clerical, administrative, technical). |
Individual contributors focused on executing operational, functional and/or University strategy, with a range of responsibilities in a professional discipline or specialty. |
Supervisory roles focused on operational, tactical and/or strategic activities within a specified area of responsibility directly affecting the entire University. |
Management roles focused on operational, tactical and/or strategic activities withing a specified area or areas of responsibility directly affecting the entire University.
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Executive roles are focused on overall operational and strategic goals of the University. |
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The majority of time is spent in the delivery of support activities. |
The majority of time is spent on the delivery, implementation, or design of processes, programs and policies. |
The majority of time is spent planning, prioritizing and/or directing the work/responsibilities of team(s). |
The majority of time is spent planning, prioritizing and/or directing the work/responsibilities of department(s). |
The majority of time is spent strategizing and setting the vision of the division or function. |
Job Level Criteria & Guidelines
Job level criteria:
Loyola’s job level criteria are common across higher education institutions and align with the market. The criteria allow for clear distinctions between scope, complexity, and requirements of work performed across Loyola.
Job level guidelines:
The grid below serves as a resource to provide further details on job levels and what they do vs. do not achieve.
| Job Levels DO: | Job Levels DO NOT: |
| Categorize jobs doing similar level work in terms of scope of responsibility, complexity, problem solving, autonomy, and level of education and years of experience | Equate to an immediate change in job title, however, over time job title may change to be more consistent with the architecture |
| Provide a tool for creating new jobs, modifying jobs and for developing career paths | Align with a specific pay grade or pay range |
| Promote consistency and internal equity | Represent the level of the incumbent, but is job focused |
| Ensure that our compensation delivery system is transparent, consistent, and equitable as well as clearly linked to the market | Require each level to be used for all job families |
Career ladders vs. career paths:
Career development is a significant component of our strategic plan. The implementation of our job architecture allows staff, administrators, and supervisors to have a resource to utilize when discussing career development opportunities. It is important to note that career development can occur through either a career ladder or a career path, as defined below.
Career Ladder Examples
Roles & responsibilities:
With the development of Loyola’s job architecture and the emphasis on career development in the strategic plan, the grid below outlines the roles and responsibilities of human resources, supervisors and employees.
Job Families & Subfamilies
Job families:
A job family is a grouping of jobs doing similar work based on function and primary duties. A job family has a clear linkage to the market to support a comparison and recruitment of qualified talent. Job families clarify career progression and development opportunities between levels. It is important to note, job families do not correspond to specific job levels or pay grades.
Job subfamilies:
A job subfamily is a more detailed grouping of jobs within a larger job family, further refining the work and skills required. Job subfamilies also clarify career progression and development opportunities. It is important to note that not all job families include each sub-family listed below. It is important to note, job sub-families do not correspond to specific job levels or pay grades.
Frequently Asked Questions: Job Architecture
Peer Group Refresh & Market Assessment
In partnership with Loyola’s compensation consultant, peer groups utilized to benchmark compensation were reviewed and updated. Loyola compared staff and administrator salaries to the appropriate, relevant market (national, regional, local) and industry (higher education, general industry), depending upon the functional nature of the job and level of responsibilities.
Loyola’s higher education comparison market includes institutions with similar mission, location, expenses, Carnegie classification, employee size, student enrollment, and other factors. Consideration is given to data availability and institutions with whom we primarily compete for talent.
Higher education market data are gathered from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) surveys and other recognized sources of market data within higher education. General industry market data from reliable published survey sources are also used for jobs that exist outside of higher education.
The peer groups for the national, regional and local data were reviewed and approved by the President’s Cabinet. All positions were reviewed as part of the market assessment.
Comparison Markets
In collaboration with the President’s Cabinet, we updated the comparison markets (higher education and general industry) to align with the relevant labor market choices in a precise and simplified form. This enables the comparison market to:
- Align to the labor markets that Loyola competes for talent
- Align labor market data scopes to roles within the newly defined Loyola job families and levels
The comparison markets are:
- Higher education: Institutions were selected based on similar size, academic programs,
and geographic location to include four peer groups:
- Jesuit Peer Group
- Patriot League (Athletics only)
- National Peer Group
- Local Peer Group
- General industry: The geographic area was identified depending upon the functional
nature of the job and level of responsibilities, to include the following:
- National
- Regional
- Local
Loyola compares our employees to the relevant market (national/regional/local) and industry (higher education/general industry), depending upon the nature of the job and level of responsibilities. We recognize in our analysis that talent markets and specific comparator institutions and organizations may differ for roles and departments across Loyola.
Market data are gathered from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) survey, salary.com and other recognized sources of market data.
Our comparators and talent markets are reviewed and refined periodically to ensure continued relevance and/or in consideration of Loyola’s strategic goals and external market factors.
National Peer Group
To develop our national peer group for compensation comparison, we utilized several filters including Carnegie classification, operating budget, geography, and institution size to apply the “funnel filter” approach illustrated below:
National Peer Group
Local Peer Group
To develop our local peer group for compensation comparison, we utilized several filters including Carnegie classification and geography to apply the “funnel filter” approach illustrated below:
Pay Equity Analysis
Loyola University Maryland is committed to fair and competitive pay for our workforce. As part of the compensation study, we retained a national, third-party consulting firm, to conduct a comprehensive statistical pay equity analysis.
The pay equity review included regression modeling to analyze salaries based on several factors known to affect pay. The primary drivers of staff and administrator pay at Loyola are pay grade, experience (relevant experience before Loyola, in roles at Loyola, and time in current position), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exemption status, division, and department. The model produced a formula to analyze pay for all staff and administrators at Loyola.
The analysis concluded that there was no pattern of inequity based on gender and/or race/ethnicity. Loyola strives for pay equity and will continue to conduct similar analyses in the future to maintain our equitable status.
Salary Structure
A salary structure defines ranges of pay for jobs within an organization and serves as a guideline for consistent and fair decisions about pay by providing:
- The minimum, midpoint, and maximum pay for jobs
- The progression of jobs within an organization
- The desired relationship to market
- The appropriate individual pay positioning reflective of skill and experience
Market data was used as a reference to create our new salary structure by approximating the market 50th percentile for the midpoint of each salary grade. Jobs were assigned to the salary grade with the midpoint closest to the market 50th percentile for the job to ensure competitiveness. Assignments were also reviewed and modified as needed to ensure internal equity.
As a result of the recent market assessment, the new salary structure was implemented in January 2025 to ensure Loyola salaries are competitively valued relative to comparable jobs in the external marketplace. All staff and administrator positions were reviewed and assigned new pay grades based on the updated structure. The salary structure recommendations were reviewed and approved by the vice presidents.
Pay Grade Ranges
Frequently Asked Questions: Salary Structure
Implementation Plan
The compensation study began in spring of 2023 and continued through spring of 2024. The implementation of the compensation study will be a phased, multi-year process:
- Phase 1 of the study was completed January 2025 with the implementation of the refreshed compensation philosophy, new job architecture, and new salary structure. All staff and administrator positions were reviewed and reassigned to the new pay grades. Staff and administrators were adjusted to the new grade minimums, as necessary. We recognize this is an important first step, but just the first step.
- Phase 2 of the compensation study will focus on working towards target quartiles (an individual employee’s placement in the pay grade) based on years of relevant experience. After the target quartile analysis is complete in Summer 2025, a timeline for making progress towards target quartiles will be determined based on financial resources.
Consistent with the strategic plan, Loyola will address ongoing equity and target compensation in future years as we work toward becoming a destination employer.
| Date | Task |
| July 2023 | Preliminary compensation study recommendations presented to leadership – including compensation philosophy and peer groups |
| January 2024 | Final compensation study recommendations presented to leadership - compensation philosophy & peer groups finalized |
| July 2024 | Leadership review – job architecture |
| September 2024 | Job architecture finalized |
| December 2024 – January 2025 | Leadership review – salary structure finalized |
| January 16, 2025 | Salary structure phase 1 implementation: new pay grades and adjustments to new grade minimums |
| FY26 + | Phase 2: complete target quartiles analysis in Summer 2025. The effective date for making progress towards target quartiles will be determined based on financial resources. |