CSB - Annual Report - 2018-2019

Library Governance Committee Final Report

Fiscal Year: 2018 - 2019

Committee Name: Committee on Salaries and Benefits

Committee Chair: Carmen Orth-Alfie (2017-2019)

Members (with terms): Samantha Bishop Simmons (2018-2020); Ann Snow (2018-2020); Erin Wolfe (2018-2019); Mike Broadwell (ex officio), Lars Leon (LFSA liaison)

Standing Charges:

The Committee on Salaries and Benefits (S&B), in consultation with the library administration and LFSA, prepares such reports and statistical studies as may be needed to support the library’s budget request for salaries and seeks ways to educate staff concerning benefit options.

Standing Charges Progress/Accomplishment Summary:

While the S&B committee did not work directly on the standing charge it is noted that the investigation into gender pay equity indirectly addressed the standing charge.

Special Charges:

1. Salaries and Benefits will determine applicable methodologies, criteria, and other factors to conduct a study of KU Libraries faculty and staff salaries to identify inequities with regards to Gender.

2. The Committee will distribute the possible methodologies to LFSA General Assembly. There will be a comment period where LFSA (the entire library) can provide feedback. The S&B committee will determine the methodology that will be used for the study.

3. Using recommended methodology, criteria, and other factors, conduct a study of KU Libraries faculty and staff salaries to identify inequities with regards to Gender. The committee's final report should contain recommended action items for LFSA executive and the administration to be more transparent and to resolve any found inequities.

Special Charges Progress/Accomplishment Summary:

Market analysis of the library profession illustrates a trend toward narrowing the gender wage gap, especially within ARL member libraries. However, the fact remains that men have historically made and continue to typically make more than women, and additional work needs to be done to close this pay gap. For this and other not explicitly stated reasons, it is inevitable that the library governance body would have some interest in studying gender equity to determine if there is still disparity within the KU Libraries. To address the special charges regarding gender equity as written, however, was an inherently complex and daunting task

which the Committee grappled with during fifteen meetings held between August 19, 2018 and July 3, 2019.

While market studies that aggregate data to determine wage gaps are an important measure to judge the progress toward reducing the gender pay gap, simply looking at market analysis does not measure or provide insight into all the various dimensions of gender equity that surfaced during the meetings. The committee quickly determined that it is essential to explore the complexity of gender equity in an effort to potentially understand the concerns behind the special charges.

After reading a variety of sources, discussing the challenges, and reflecting on the charge, the S&B committee acknowledged in hindsight that it would have been advantageous to send the charge back to LFSA at various points throughout the year. First, to agree upon a shared definition of equity and gender. Second, to explicitly express the reasons for the charge to narrowly focus on gender equity. Third, to reconsider the requested deliverables to ensure achievable tasks for the academic year.

The S&B committee, in good faith, attempted to fulfill the charge as stated and interpreted the “and other factors” to be about more than “just the numbers”. Through extensive exploration of gender equity issues, the Committee came to the understanding that gender equity is not just about comparing the average pay by gender to the external market. Iris Bohnet, Harvard professor, explores the concept of gender equity in depth in the acclaimed book, What Works. Bohnet calls for organizations to go beyond the numbers associated with wage disparities to consider the benefits of equitable practices to enable organizations to overcome implicit bias. Bohnet notes, “Gender equality is not just a numbers game. Numbers matter, but how those numbers come to be and how they work with each other is quite possibly even more important.” Bohnet further states it is “…how women and men, are chosen, how… [they are] organized, and what the rules of engagement and decision making are.”1

Brief summary regarding the charge are noted below. Separate appendices detail some of the information collected by the committee.

To meet this charge, committee members conducted literature research to understand how gender equity is measured by other organizations. The committee determined that it was not possible to recommend a single methodology to study gender equity in the KU Libraries. Rather, each specific dimension of gender equity may require a different methodology. It is therefore important to determine first what dimension of gender equity is to be investigated and measured.

1 Bohnet (2016), p.8

2. The Committee will distribute the possible methodologies to LFSA General Assembly. There will be a comment period where LFSA (the entire library) can provide feedback. The S&B Committee will determine the methodology that will be used for the study.

Preliminary findings of how gender equity can be measured and how gender equity has been studied by the KU Libraries, the university, and others was briefly noted in a presentation at the Fall FLSA General Assembly meeting. During the spring, the committee drafted an opinion survey designed to gauge the level of interest in studying various measures of equity. The committee was unable to complete the survey design in time to distribute a survey before the end of the academic year.

1. The committee recommends future LFSA Executive Committees narrowly identify and define priorities to study and address concerns regarding gender equity. 2. The committee recommends LFSA Executive charge a committee to identify best practices, which the Libraries’ governance and administration bodies can implement to improve equity within the KU Libraries.

3. The committee recommends LFSA Executive charge an ad hoc committee to complete, administer and analyze the opinion survey.

Other Activities or Accomplishments: N/A

Potential Charges for Future Committees/Recommendations: none

Please review the Committee’s portion of the Library Governance website and the Code. Does it need updating/correcting?

COMMITTEE WEBSITE:

The CSB website has archived content that was not transferred to the Sharepoint site.

Special Charge 2018-2019 was not added to CSB Charges website. Minutes – are split between Sharepoint and CSB Minutes website starting with FY18.

LFSA CODE:

Consider changing the code for “Terms of Office. Committee members serve two-year overlapping terms” to indicate that the overlap is created by changing one faculty and one staff change out each year.

Prepared by: Carmen Orth-Alfie

Appendix A. Glossary of Terms

The following definitions are offered to help clarify future charges:

Gender -- For the purposes of being able to compare studies, gender is narrowly defined as male and female. This mirrors the definition of gender in the Report to University Senate by the Ad-Hoc Committee on Gender Equity which notes, "most data collected by the university do not allow us to embrace a broader characterization of gender for our analysis."

The following definitions provide clarity when discussing issues of pay equity and are quoted from the publication:

Sady, K., Aamodt, M. G., & Cohen, D. (2017). Compensation Equity: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Reprinted from C. Hanvey & K. Sady (Eds.). (2015). Practitioner’s Guide to Legal Issues in Organizations (pp. 249–282). Springer International Publishing. Full text from American Bar (pdf)

External equity -- "Questions of external compensation equity address whether employees in an organization are compensated at rates that are consistent with the external labor market." Compensation Equity, p. 3.

Group equity -- "whether differences in compensation between similarly situated employees, in different protected class subgroups, reflect differences in legitimate drivers of compensation (e.g., somebody has more relevant experience and thus has higher compensation)." Compensation Equity, p. 5

Individual equity -- "Whether a particular employee is paid fairly in comparison to similarly situated peers is a question commonly addressed by compensation professionals." Compensation Equity (2017), p. 4

Internal equity -- "In contrast to external equity, questions of internal compensation equity address whether employees within an organization are compensated equitably in comparison to one another. Questions of internal equity are addressed at both the individual and group level..." Compensation Equity (2017), p. 4

Appendix B. KU Libraries HR reports

Data Collected about each employee in the university’s HR system

Regression analysis can be used to assess factors that may explain pay differences in both internal and external compensation comparisons. One early step to complete in a regression study is to determine what administrative data is collected that could potentially be used for analysis. Committee ex officio member, M. Broadwell investigated this question and provided the following list of administrative data variables collected about each employee.

HR System Variables

● Employment Data

o Start Date

o Termination Date

o Service Date

● Job Data

o Name

o Effective Date

o Action

o Reason

o Work Title

o Job Code

o Position Number

o Salary

o Supervisor

o Class

o Shift

o Status

o Standard Hours

o Pay Group

o Employee Type

o Exempt Status

Libraries HR System Data

● Staff Data

o Name

o Title

o Reports to

o Hourly Rate

o Annual Rate

o FLSA

o Education

o Service Date

o KU Start Date

o Ethnicity

o Birthdate

o Retire/Resign Date

o Position Change

o Salaries by title

o Hire Date

o Position Descriptions

Job Announcements Templates

It is considered a best practice to post a pay range as part of the job search process. The Committee inquired about the KU Libraries’ practices. Committee ex officio member, M. Broadwell shared two job templates with the committee.

Appendix C. Draft Opinion Survey Questions to Assess Opinion of Priority Issues DRAFT

Gender Equity 2019 Survey - S&B Committee – as of 2019 MAY16

Start of Block: Default Question Block

Dear colleagues,

The Library Faculty and Staff Assembly (LFSA) Salary and Benefits Committee FY19 (S&B), in response to special charges regarding gender equity, invites all library staff and faculty to participate in a survey. This survey seeks your input as to the level of importance of specific equity research questions.

Please provide thoughtful answers to the following questions to inform the collective voice. It is estimated to take 10 minutes to complete the study.

This survey will remain open through June ---.

Thank you for your participation in this exploratory process.

Sincerely,

The LFSA Salary & Benefits Committee FY19

[name], chair

[name]

[name], ex officio

[name], LFSA liaison

Q2 About this Survey

Completion of the survey indicates your willingness to take part in this research study. Your participation is solicited, although strictly voluntary. Your name will not be associated in any way with the research findings. Your identifiable information will not be shared unless (a) it is required by law or university policy, or (b) you give written permission. University of Kansas Libraries supports the practice of protection for human subjects participating in research. The following information is provided for you to decide whether you wish to participate in the present study. You should be aware that even if you agree to participate, you are free to withdraw at any time without penalty by not submitting your responses. This study is conducted to better understand what aspects of gender equity are most important to monitor and study. This will entail your completion of a survey. The content of the survey should cause no more discomfort than you would experience in your everyday life. The survey is administered via an anonymous link to the University of Kansas hosted Qualtric survey tool. Your answers are confidential to the members of S&B. It is possible, however, with internet communications, that through intent or accident someone other than the intended recipient may see your response. Survey responses and preliminary data analysis will be stored on secured university servers. The survey aggregated data will be analyzed and may appear in KU Libraries governance documentation and professional scholarship, such as conference presentations and publications. Only completed surveys will be included in the aggregated data. It is estimated to take 10 minutes to complete the study. A copy of the survey questions is available for you to preview. The principal investigator for the research project is [name]. If you would like additional information concerning this study before or after it is completed, please feel free to contact [name], [email]. By clicking on the next arrow to advance the survey questions and then submitting your results you are confirming that you are at least 18 years old and consenting to have your responses included in the aggregated data. If you have any additional questions about your rights as a research participant, you may call (785) 864-7429 or write the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP), University of Kansas, 2385 Irving Hill Road, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7563, email irb@ku.edu. Click the arrow button to provide your consent and then continue to the survey.

Q4 Internal "group" and "individual" equity comparisons within KU Libraries

Rate your level of support for a future LFSA committee to study earnings within the KU Libraries to compare:

Not at all

important (1)

Moderately important (2)

Very important (3)

Compensation by individuals within similarly situated positions (1)

Compensation by

o o o

job class (2) o o o

Impact of various

variables (gender,

education, etc.) on

earnings (3)

Q6 Stratification of job classes

o o o

Rate your level of support for a future LFSA committee to investigate the gender breakdown in the KU Libraries by:

Very important (3)

Department/units

Not at all

important (1)

Moderately important (2)

(3) o o o

Job class

(administration, faculty, staff, etc.) (4)

o o o

Reporting lines (5)o o o

Q7 External gender pay equity comparisons (KU Libraries compared to Campus and Peer Institutions)

Rate your level of support for a future LFSA committee to compare KU Libraries pay by gender and job class to:

Very important (4)

Other departments

Not at all

important (1)

Moderately important (3)

on campus. (1) o o o

ARL and/or similar academic libraries (2)

Q9 Rank priorities

o o o

Rank the following types of gender equity measures as to level of importance to assess and monitor from (1) most important to (3) least important.

______ Internal "group" and "individual" equity comparisons within KU Libraries (2) ______ Stratification of job classes within KU Libraries (3)

______ External gender pay equity compared to Campus and Peer Institutions (5)

Q8 Other considerations regarding equity

Rate your level of support for a future LFSA committee:

Not at all

important (1)

Moderately important (3)

Very important (4)

Assess KU Libraries employees'

perceptions of

equity. (1)

Investigate how discrimination

(implicit or explicit) can impact

opportunities and future earnings. (2)

Study how peer institutions analyze equity and what actions they are taking to address inequities (3)

o o o o o o

o o o

Q10 Other equity measures for future study

Rate your level of support that in the future LFSA should charge a committee to investigate equitable treatment based on:

Not at all

important (1)

Moderately important (2)

Very important (3)

Age (1)o o o Gender (2)o o o

LGBTQ (3)o o o Military service (4)o o o

Person with

disabilities (5) o o o Race/ethnicity (6)o o o

Employees'

perceptions (7) o o o

Q11 Job classification

To measure the response rate across KU Libraries by staff or faculty please indicate employee classification.

oUniversity Support Staff or Unclassified Professional Staff (1)

oFaculty (2)

Q12

Years of service

To measure the response rate across KU Libraries by years of service please indicate your years of service in one of the following ranges. Each range for years of service represents approximately 48 people.

o0-10 years of service (1)

o10.1-20 years of service (2)

o20.1+ years of service (3)

Q13

Comments

Please share additional comments, concerns, questions that you would like to have addressed in the S&B gender equity report.

________________________________________________________________ Q14 Other comments...

________________________________________________________________ Q15 Please click the arrow button to submit your responses.