Annual Market Review
The annual market review process provides a framework for Virginia Tech Senior Management Areas (SMAs) to review Administrative and Professional (A/P) faculty and staff salaries and to move salaries to a more competitive position, based on available budget. Salary changes should be made based on benchmarking to similar university positions and to the external market. An annual market review adjustment may be granted as a salary adjustment for both A/P faculty and staff, or as a bonus for staff.
Considerations
- Prioritization is essential. There will not be enough money to take care of every situation. Management should focus on those individuals who are paid lower in their market ranges, particularly those who consistently receive an Exceptional performance rating.
- Documented performance of individuals as well as pay relative to internal and external benchmarks should be considered when deciding how to target adjustments or bonuses.
Bonus
A/P faculty are not eligible for bonuses under this program. Staff should only be given a bonus under certain conditions such as:
- When long-term funding is not available to support a permanent increase.
- To compensate an employee taking on additional duties on a "temporary" basis.
- When the employee is already being paid a premium salary well above market.
How to adjust pay
- Each SMA will have an annual designated time period each year to go through a scheduled Annual Market Review process.
- Off-cycle requests should be submitted for approval on a P3A: Staff and Faculty Actions or Change of Status Form.
- All recommendations must be approved by senior management or the designee for the SMA and their Compensation delegate. Departments should keep in mind that what may appear justified when looking at one department or organization could create issues when considered alongside other similarly situated positions across SMAs or in other areas across the university.
- Once a pay adjustment or bonus action has received all required approvals and been processed; the Division of Human Resources will notify the appropriate contact person in the SMA who should then notify the appropriate manager(s). Managers should conduct a performance discussion with employees prior to the employee actually seeing any change reflected on their pay.
A/P faculty justification
There are three justifications allowed by Virginia Tech in the Annual Market Review process for A/P faculty. All salary adjustments must fit into one of these categories:
- Market competitiveness
- Retention
- Internal alignment/equity
Staff justification
There are four justifications allowed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for in-band adjustments for staff and any request must fit into one of the categories:
- Alignment
- Change of duties
- Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)
- Retention – high turnover, hard to fill positions