Aon Compensation Project Updates

In practice, pay equity means paying employees with similar job functions comparably similar wages, regardless of their identity. Pay equity looks at the wages of comparable internal positions that require substantially similar skill, effort and responsibility and ensures that differences in wages, if any, are based on permissible factors.

The state of Rhode Island recently passed legislation defining what those permissible factors may be. They include, among other factors, education, training and experience to the extent that such factors are job related and consistent with a business need, a merit system where pay increases are based on performance and a seniority system that looks at years of service with the employer.

No, a pay equity review is an internally focused study.

If you have not been contacted, Aon confirmed that your pay is equitable in accordance with pay equity standards. 

College-wide studies, like the one Aon just completed in Phase 1 above, will occur every three to four years. In addition, when a new job description is created, a pay range will be determined for the role based on the external market and pay equity for comparable positions.

A salary grade defines the pay range (lower and upper limits) for a group of jobs. Grades help to inform the pay for a position and foster pay transparency.

Salary grade structures are a collection of salary grades that visually display a framework of pay.

A position is assigned to a salary grade based on market data and internal equity.

Market data is external information on the salaries for a given type of work, often based on geographical area or industry. RISD obtains this information from market surveys that are refreshed regularly to ensure that data is current. These surveys provide pay data that can be filtered by industry, geography and organization type and size. The surveys also provide job summaries, which ensures that RISD’s job description duties, functions and requirements are in alignment with the survey job to which they are compared.

Internal equity is the identification and comparison of similar positions within an organization to ensure fair pay. Internal equity is determined by considering the pay for comparable internal RISD positions, or pay for those positions requiring substantially similar skill, effort and responsibility.

For a new role, managers work with Human Resources to create a description that captures a role's responsibilities and appropriate requirements.

For updates to existing job descriptions, managers work with HR to make needed adjustments with, when appropriate, the input of employees, who have first hand knowledge of the details of the work. If an employee feels their job description doesn’t reflect their current responsibilities, they should speak with their manager.

An individual’s job-related qualifications (such as their education, training or experience, to the extent that such factors are job related and operationally necessary, performance/merit and other permissible factors) may have bearing on the pay rate assigned.

Exempt employees are paid a set salary amount regardless of the number of hours worked. Non-exempt employees are compensated based on the specific number of hours they work in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. Because of those differences, rates of pay for exempt employees are described in terms of annualized base wages while non-exempt employees are quoted in terms of hourly rate of pay.

Implementing the new salary grade structures will not result in widespread pay changes for staff, meaning the vast majority's pay rates will not change.  There may be a few select positions which will require that an individual's pay be adjusted to align with the new grade structure.  Implementing the new grade structures will not result in any pay decreases.