We are pleased to announce an initiative to design and implement new reward programs for Classified and Information Technology Staff (IT) at Ohio University. This important initiative will address employee and management concerns regarding our existing compensation programs, and help ensure that new programs are well positioned to support our needs into the future. This effort is consistent with our ongoing commitment to organizational effectiveness.

Key objectives of this undertaking are to create a compensation framework and supporting reward systems that:

· Are consistently used and applied throughout the organization
· Provide a pay opportunity that is competitive with the marketplace
· Provide flexibility needed to respond to change and to help attract and retain talent
· Support organizational effectiveness

The project has been carefully structured to ensure broad representation and inclusiveness, while also ensuring effective decision-making and project management. A Project Team will be responsible for coordinating research and analysis and for formulating key recommendations. The Project Team will work closely with a Steering Team, which will provide feedback and strategic direction, and will review, refine and ultimately approve recommendations for presentation to senior university officers. In addition, we have retained Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global Human Resources consulting firm, whose consultants bring strategic, change management, and technical expertise, as well as experience working with higher education institutions on these issues.

Karen Hudson, Assistant Director of Human Resources, heads the Project Team and is a member of the Steering Team. Gary North, Vice President for Administration, heads the Steering Team and is the executive sponsor for the overall initiative. Please refer to http://www.ohiou.edu/comp for a complete listing of Project and Steering Team members.

We are entering Phase I of a three-phase project that will likely be 12-18 months. Phase I, to be completed by early spring, includes both a cultural assessment of our organization and an analysis of pay in our competitive labor markets. The cultural assessment process will include interviews of senior university officers and other leaders, employee focus groups and an employee opinion survey to be completed by all administrative and classified employees. As part of the competitive pay analysis, Classified and IT Staff will complete job information questionnaires outlining their job responsibilities, which will be used in the market comparison. You will have the opportunity to provide input as part of this approach to assist us in achieving meaningful and lasting results.

Clearly, this initiative will require a lot of time and energy, but we are confident that we have a process and teams in place to produce an effective system that will benefit both our university and our employees. We encourage you to access http://www.ohiou.edu/comp, where you can find more project details, regular updates and ask any question you may have about this project.

Keep in mind that programs are only as powerful as the people who design and use them, so we encourage you to actively participate and support this process. Your time, cooperation and input are both critical and valuable.