The NU Values program shall be applicable to all regular University of Nebraska Office/Service and Managerial/Professional positions.
The NU Values program is a compensation and performance management system for Office/Service and Managerial/Professional employees of the University of Nebraska. NU Values:
- Links performance of employees to the mission and the vision of the
- Focuses on job families as the basis for market relevance and equity in pay
- Provides the tools for growth and development of
- Provides an open framework whereby the tools/processes used to make pay decisions are widely
- Utilizes a simple yet effective job evaluation system.
- Utilizes competencies as a basis for employee performance
The NU Values program groups all positions having similar characteristics into job families so that an effective, equitable and market relevant level of compensation may be identified. This categorization is based on an analysis of each position in order to determine the general function, the duties and responsibilities, the supervision received and exercised, and the educational background, training, and experience needed for the position.
Under NU Values the role of Human Resources (HR) is that of a business partner to unit leadership, consulting with them as decisions are made concerning their employees classification/compensation. HR will continue to monitor for compliance with state and federal regulations, as well as University policy and may be required to review documentation describing pay or zone placement decisions that are outside of certain policy and governmental parameters.
Compensation decisions are initiated by requests routed through the unit leadership and approved by HR using either the Position Questionnaire form (in the case of classifications & reclassifications) or through salary discussions at the time of a job offer
Under NU Values system, HR will hold the primary responsibility of ensuring that staff is compensated appropriately and fairly. HR will provide unit leaders with the necessary resources to make decisions on job title, family and zone placement and salary. The unit leadership holds responsibility for making and documenting decisions in compliance with all laws, regulations and policies. HR will retain primary responsibility for determining market relevance, the employment category (managerial/professional or office/service) and the exemption designation (exempt/salaried or nonexempt/hourly-paid). In order to make these determinations, HR will acquire and maintain internal and external salary data, review all newly created positions, review all changes of zone or family, and review all salary changes that exceed policy guidelines.
Authority & Responsibility
- The Vice President for Business and Finance is responsible for the maintenance and revision of the NU Values
- The Director of Human Resources, Central Administration, coordinates the administration of the NU Values program and shall develop procedures, as required, to facilitate the consistent application and administration of policies related to NU
- The Chief Business Officers are responsible for the overall direction of the NU Values program at the campus
- The Human Resources Directors are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the NU Values program at the campus
The development and maintenance of current and accurate position descriptions is vital to the job analysis process. The position description is a written statement that describes the work that is to be done and the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform the work. Position descriptions serve a variety of purposes.
Position Description Benefits
Enhances the understanding of what is expected and required in a job.
- Improves performance and work
- Provides a basis for job-related section and performance appraisal
- Provides a basis for identifying career
- Provides a basis for salary survey
- Provides a basis for legal defense (such as FLSA exemption status, equal pay act compliance and definition of essential functions under the American with Disabilities Act and other regulatory )
Position Descriptions Can Be Used to
- Introduce new employees or applicants to the position.
- Provide basic documentation used in job analysis and compensation
- Set Performance Standards and help employees understand what is expected of
- Provide a basis for setting goals and
- Identify and document essential job functions to ensure compliance with ADA.
- Comply with other legal and workplace requirements.
Position Description General Guidelines
- Describe the position/role/work to be performed, not the
- Do not make the position description too detailed or
- The position description should define the minimum standards for effective job
- Write clearly and
- Position description should not be interpreted too rigidly; they are not intended to be used as limitations or restrictions on employee roles.
Each position will have a position description describing the duties, qualifications, nature of the work, know- how, interactions and supervision received/exercised. Managerial/Professional or Office/Service Job Description should include:
General Information
This section provides the general demographic data of the position to be described. Enter the appropriate information.
Basic Function and Responsibility
This section describes why the position exists. The summary should state the role the position plays in achieving the department division, and NU’s mission, goal and objectives. This statement is often used as the basis for describing the position when advertising for candidates. The summary should be concise, no more than four sentences.
Characteristic Duties and Responsibilities
This section lists, in order of importance, the principle responsibilities assigned to the position. Because this is the most important section of the position description, some general rules of construction follow:
- Write in a consistent
- Use clear and concise
- Use present tense, action verbs to begin each
- Avoid gender-based
- Avoid unnecessary Example: “Transports inter-office mail to locations throughout facility.”
To meet the legal requirements of ADA, identify essential functions of the positions. (ADA defines essential functions as *(a) reason the job exists. (b) A limited number of employees available to distribute work, or (c) functions are highly specialized and require expertise). As a general guideline, any single duty/task that occupies 20 percent or more of the incumbent’s time is considered essential. Place an asterisk “*” next to all duties considered to be essential.
Minimum Qualifications
The purpose of this section is to identify the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience necessary for entry into a position, including:
- Education, licenses, vocational/special training
- Work experience, both type and amount
- Physical skills and mental abilities
- Core competencies
No person will be assigned to any position until it has been properly allocated to a job family and zone.
If a filled position is reallocated to another job family/zone, the incumbent will not be automatically qualified to continue filling the position unless he or she possesses the minimum qualifications necessary to perform the work satisfactorily. The incumbent of a position reallocated to another family zone who is not qualified to remain in the position will be reassigned if warranted, or will be separated from the University.
Job Titles
The standard job title, created by combining the job family name and the zone name, is the job title that will be used on personnel documents. For example, if an employee were in the library services job family and in the associate zone, the standard job title would be “Library Services Associate.” The organizational units are encouraged to use a working title that matches position responsibilities and reflect the job family, such as Acquisitions Associate.
Competency
Competency is the combination of observable and measurable knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes that contribute to enhanced employee performance and ultimately result in organizational success. To understand competencies, it is important to define the various components of competencies.
- Knowledge is the cognizance of facts, truths and principles gained from formal training and/or Application and sharing of one's knowledge base is critical to individual and organizational success.
- A skill is a developed proficiency or dexterity in mental operations or physical processes that is often acquired through specialized training; the execution of these skills results in successful
- Ability is the power or aptitude to perform physical or mental activities that are often affiliated with a particular profession or trade such as computer programming, plumbing, calculus, and so Although organizations may be adept at measuring results, skills and knowledge regarding one's performance, they are often remiss in recognizing employees' abilities or aptitudes, especially those outside of the traditional job design.
- Individual attributes are properties, qualities or characteristics of individuals that reflect one's unique personal Individual attributes are viewed as genetically developed or acquired from one's accumulated life experiences. Although personal characteristics are the most subjective of the components, a growing, significant body of research links specific personality traits to successful individual and organizational performance.
- Individually recognizing and rewarding any of these sources of expertise provides a strong basis for individual performance However, it is their combination that results in the unleashing of resources that are all too frequently untapped.
When utilizing competencies, it is important to keep the following in mind:
- Competencies do not establish baseline performance levels; rather they are used to raise the bar on employee They provide employees with road maps to increase their capabilities incrementally.
- Competencies focus on an organization's culture and Consequently NU has selected a unique set or combination of competencies that support and facilitate its mission.
- Competencies reflect the organization's strategy; that is, they are aligned to short- and long-term missions and
- Competencies focus on how results are achieved rather than merely the end In this manner they bridge the gap between performance management and employee development and are an integral component of personal development plans.
- Competencies close skill gaps within the
- Competency data can be used for employee development, compensation, promotion, training and new hire selection decisions.
How Will Competencies Be Used?
At NU, competencies are the foundation for the compensation and performance engagement programs. NU's philosophy in recognizing and rewarding specific competencies is the key to NU's continued and growing success. Accordingly, development and proficiency of competencies leads to:
- Distribution of monetary awards through salary
- Creation of employee development and succession planning opportunities.
- Development of customized training modules and identification of already available training programs.
- Identification of critical selection criteria for candidates desiring employment at the
Because competencies are aligned to an organization's strategy, they were carefully selected. Accordingly, NU has identified and determined competencies that are critical to its short- and long-term success. These competencies are applicable to all managerial/professional and office/service jobs within the entire University. Definitions of competencies have been developed to ensure a common understanding of the competencies across campuses and organizational units within the University. Competencies were applied to each job family to develop performance engagement and measurement criteria for employees and will be used to ensure reliable and valid comparative data when reviewing candidates’ credentials during the selection process. In order to have a clearer picture, the NU competencies are further defined in terms of specific behaviors (observable measures) and variable levels of expectation for each job family.
Core Competencies
Accountability
Accepts responsibility for own actions and decisions and demonstrates commitment to accomplish work in an ethical, efficient and cost-effective manner.
Adaptability
Adjusts planned work by gathering relevant information and applying critical thinking to address multiple demands and competing priorities in a changing environment.
Communication
Effectively conveys information and expresses thoughts and facts. Demonstrates effective use of listening skills and displays openness to other people's ideas and thoughts.
Customer/Quality Focus
Anticipates, monitors and meets the needs of customers and responds to them in an appropriate manner. Demonstrates a personal commitment to identify customers' apparent and underlying needs and continually seeks to provide the highest quality service and product to all customers.
Inclusiveness
Fosters respect for all individuals and points of view. Interacts appropriately with all members of the campus community, campus visitors and business and community partners without regard to individual characteristics. Demonstrates a personal commitment to create a hospitable and welcoming environment.
Leadership
Communicates the University's vision in ways that gain the support of others. Mentors, motivates and guides others toward goals.
Occupational Knowledge/Technology Orientation
Demonstrates the appropriate level of proficiency in the principles and practices of one's field or profession. Demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement, to include understanding and application of technology (hardware, software, equipment and processes).
Team Focus
Works cooperatively and effectively with others to achieve common goals. Participates in building a group identity characterized by pride, trust and commitment.
Key Behaviors
Competencies were selected to help support and drive NU’s strategic goals. Because these competencies are so critical to the performance management and employee development programs, it is important to provide tailored measures of these competencies that reflect job duties, responsibilities and actual behaviors. From a motivational point of view, it is critical to communicate to employees key performance expectations and provide actionable feedback regarding their performance relative to the competencies. In order to do this, objective and observable measures were developed for each job family. We call these measures key behaviors.
Developing Key Behaviors for Different Job Family Zones
Since there are various levels of jobs within a job family, key behaviors were developed with jobs in mind that represented each job zone. The difference by levels can be found in the Index of Key Behavior Statements by Competency (PDF). Naturally, one would expect to find differences in skill development, knowledge and abilities as you contrast a lower level key behavior to the higher level ones within each competency. To this end, the key behaviors were developed for each job family along a continuum from Assistant to Senior in a way that matches the arrangement of jobs in each family.
The following factors were used when developing the key behaviors.
- The purpose of key behaviors is to tailor the competencies to the job family.
- Two to four key behaviors were written for each zone of each
- Key behaviors are
- Key behaviors are
- Key behaviors are written in a language that is understood by both employees and
- Key behaviors are written as succinctly as
- Key behaviors drive the successful performance of the There must be a meaningful difference in skills, abilities and knowledge requirements reflected in the behaviors from one zone to the next. In many instances, the same behavior was used for more than one zone by adjusting magnitude, frequency level, and so forth from one zone to the next. In some instances, different behaviors that measure and reflect distinct skill sets were used to differentiate one zone from the next. When using different behaviors, the behaviors used for higher job zones truly reflect enhanced levels of skill and knowledge than the behaviors used to describe lower zone job requirements and expectations.
In order to develop appropriate and meaningful key behaviors, job experts from all four campuses and Varner Hall gathered in job-family-based groups to develop and refine them. An editor from the University of Nebraska Press reviewed all of the key behaviors and recommended changes to standardize the format and language usage.
No person will be assigned to any position until it has been properly allocated to a job family and zone.
If a filled position is reallocated to another job family/zone, the incumbent will not be automatically qualified to continue filling the position unless he or she possesses the minimum qualifications necessary to perform the work satisfactorily. The incumbent of a position reallocated to another family zone who is not qualified to remain in the position will be reassigned if warranted, or will be separated from the University.
Job Families: Job families are composed of jobs related through common vocations/professions. Jobs in a job family are similar in that they have a continuum of knowledge, skills and abilities from the lowest to the highest level job, related key behaviors and similar market characteristics. NU Values has fifteen job families (PDF).
Bands: Each job family has its own broad salary band (PDF). This band reflects the unique nature of each job family and has its own pay characteristics. The Central Administration Human Resources Department, in conjunction with the campus Human Resources Departments, will utilize labor market wage and salary surveys to determine the pay range for each band.
Zones: Zones are established within each band to reflect groupings of positions based on major differences in scope, responsibilities, qualifications and competencies. The zones are labeled Assistant, Associate, Specialist and Senior. Job families with only three zones do not have a Specialist zone.
Job Analysis: Job analysis places a relative value on the differing factors that distinguish one job from another: Nature and Complexity of work, Problem solving and Decision-making, Know-how, Interaction and Supervision received and/or exercised.
There are generally two situations that require analysis, either a new position is needed or an existing position has changed. All new and existing positions will be assigned to a job family and zone using the job analysis process. This process is designed to slot positions into families and zones based upon assigned duties, qualifications and competencies.
For the purposes of setting pay, job analysis identifies the relative value of positions that are not specifically surveyed in the labor market to those whose values are known. The University of Nebraska’s job analysis process is based on the following objectives:
- A simplified system that organizational units will use to determine appropriate job family, zone and working job title for a
- A flexible process that enables organizational units to quickly or efficiently design positions to meet their
- A set of easy-to-understand-and-apply steps that organizational unit leaders will use to develop employees.
