The Career Path Development Project develops and aligns positions within a standardized framework allowing for enhanced clarity and career growth. The project framework, known as "job architectures," will serve as the foundation for hiring, compensating, developing, and advancing the UVM workforce by creating direct career paths and competitive and equitable compensation practices. Details about the project timeline, objectives, and deliverables are outlined below.
PROJECT DETAILS
KEY OBJECTIVES
The objectives for the Career Path Development Project include:
- Building a job architecture/classification framework that facilitates:
- career advancement,
- aligns with competitive market practices,
- supports internal consistency and equity, and
- enables efficient hiring practices.
- Implementing competitive market pay assessments to ensure UVM salary ranges are strategically aligned with the external labor market.
- Creating a clear and consistent compensation philosophy, career paths, salary ranges, and administrative guidelines that position UVM with the external labor market and ensure internal equity, efficiency, and transparency.
- Developing trainings and materials to educate managers and employees about principles and concepts of the new job architecture.
- Integrating the new job architecture into existing systems and processes for managers, HR professionals, and senior leaders to use for recruitment, hiring, and reporting needs.
WHAT THE PROJECT WILL & WILL NOT DO
The Career Path Development Project WILL:
- Allow current employees to view different career paths available at UVM.
- Ensure compensation is fair and equitable. Nothing in this project will negatively impact an employee's pay or benefits.
- Align job titles around similar work responsibilities, job functions and levels, allowing for greater consistency and transparency.
- Create clear pathways through which employees can reach their professional goals and access the resources they need to grow in their careers.
The Career Path Development Project WILL NOT:
- Negatively impact salary or benefits of existing employees.
- Reorganize organizational units.
- Change working titles of existing positions.
- Change duties or responsibilities of existing positions.
- Change reporting lines or supervisors of existing positions.
Learn the Facts! Get answers to commonly asked questions and concerns in the FAQs.
PROJECT APPROACH & TIMELINE
Launched in fall 2022, the scope of the project is to develop a new job architecture (classification system) for all classified staff positions. This will occur in several phases with an estimated completion of fall 2024. This is a carefully crafted approach to creating a job classification system that incorporates clear job families, sub-families, career streams, level guides, and mapping of current positions to the new job structure. See the project timeline and summary of what has been accomplished so far.
Project Timeline
1. Planning & Discovery Phase - COMPLETED ✓:
The discovery and planning phase was completed in 2022. The project team was selected, timing of the project was considered, and key objectives were validated. During this time, the team confirmed project scope and objectives, developed a project timeline, created an engagement strategy, and conducted stakeholder sessions and current state analysis. This first phase is complete.
2. Job Architecture & Updated Job Catelog Phase:
Several months have been spent designing key components of a new job architecture (job families, sub-families, career streams, level guides), mapping of current positions to the new job architecture, and developing proposed titling. This has been an intensive period during which working sessions among Mercer and the UVM steering committee have occured. Additionally, a number of employee focus groups have been held providing important feedback to the team.
3. Compensation Philosopy & Benchmarking Phase:
Since spring 2023, an in-depth period of assessment and analysis of market data has taken place in order to accurately set benchmarks and build an equitable compensation philosophy aligned with UVM's mission. The updated compensation philosophy and benchmarking methodology sets clear compensation administration guidelines that help the university remain competitive in the job market and retain top talent.
4. Strategies & Implementation:
From the time the project began in 2022, the team has followed a strategic roadmap to ensure each phase is thorough and aligns with the university's mission and strategic goals. Information about the project will be shared with faculty and staff as it develops.
For information outlining the project approach, including detailed objectives and deliverables, see the Career Path Development Project Approach (PDF).
