COMPENSATION

Our ability to fulfill the institution’s mission rests solely with our faculty and staff members. By recruiting, hiring, and retaining quality employees, the University can excel as a leader in higher education.

A market competitive compensation program for staff is an integral component in developing an exemplary workforce dedicated to our mission. Accordingly, Villanova University is committed to administering a staff compensation program that enables us to attract and retain highly skilled and talented employees. Our intention is to pay competitive salaries with consideration for internal equity with other Villanova employees, external market conditions, and the skills, knowledge, expertise, and performance of the individual.

Villanova University’s staff compensation program will:

• Enable the University to attract and retain a diverse workforce of high-caliber, community-oriented staff and administrators who are dedicated to supporting the University’s mission and educational goals.
• Be based on the commitment to fair and equitable pay, within the financial resources of the University.
• Recognize the multiple markets within which Villanova must compete.
• Recognize individual contributions to the institution.
• Be clear and understandable by the community.
• Be consistent with the University’s mission.

To accomplish these objectives, The Office of Human Resources will:

• Maintain the compensation program and ensure University-wide equity as defined in this strategy.
• Provide strategic and operational advice to leadership on pay issues and market trends.
• Collaborate with hiring managers to establish and maintain appropriate salaries.
• Regularly collect market data from the appropriate sources, assess pay competitiveness, and recommend adjustments to the salary structure as well as individual salaries.
• Regularly monitor the effectiveness of the compensation program and practices, its continued competitiveness, and on-going internal equity.
• Communicate the pay program and ensure understanding within the university community.

Comparison Markets

Comparison markets used for benchmarking and maintaining the salary structure will reflect the realities of the competitive environment for different job families and roles.   

The comparison market will be a group of doctoral and masters institutions at the national, regional, or local level, depending upon the position. This group of public and private comparison institutions was selected by the President’s Cabinet in collaboration with our compensation consultant as both competitive and aspirant institutions.

• For positions in Information Technology, Finance and Accounting and other key non-academic positions, broad industry markets will be used in addition to the identified universities to develop and maintain the salary structure.
• For support positions which are not higher education specific, general industry comparison data for the Philadelphia Metro area will be used.

Plan Design

Job content and role determine the salary band to which a job is assigned, and the specific responsibilities and scope, combined with the skills, knowledge, experience and performance of the incumbent determines salary within the band.

• Job responsibilities, requirements, complexity, and impact will determine the salary band assignment, not the job’s title. There must be a clear and current job description for each job to ensure that Human Resources has the job content information needed to properly band jobs. Salary ranges will be competitive with our respective, defined markets
• Skills, knowledge, experience, and performance of the individual will determine the actual salary
• Internal equity and market competitiveness will be monitored regularly to ensure continued program effectiveness