• Introduction
• Step 1 - Check your School, College or Department's Process
• Step 2 - Complete the Required Documentation
• Step 3 - Compare Questionnaire Responses to Research Job Descriptions
• Step 4 - Evaluate Budget Impact
• Step 5 - Obtain Required Approval
• Step 6 - Submit All Paperwork to Compensation Office

Introduction

The process for determining the appropriate promotional classification is designed to assist principal investigators, managers and administrators in gathering and analyzing information to select the best job match and appropriate salary for promotions of existing research scientists/engineers, and exemption to the Professional Staff Program and promotion of classified staff to Research Scientist/Engineer. Just follow the steps below.

Step 1 - Check your School, College or Department's Process

Schools and departments may have slightly different internal processes, so be sure that you check with the Administrator or HR representative who is responsible for processing compensation requests in your department or school.

Step 2 - Complete the Required Documentation

The Research Scientist/Engineer Job Questionnaire is completed by the employee and forwarded to the supervisor/principal investigator for review. The questionnaire is self-explanatory. The employer completes the Professional Staff Compensation Change Request Form and Employee Signature Form. If you have a general terminology question, check out the Compensation Glossary. The questionnaire is in MSWord format and can be saved to your own drive for current/future use.

Step 3 - Compare Questionnaire Responses to Research Job Descriptions

After the employee and supervisor/PI complete the questionnaire, the Administrator should compare it to the Research Job Descriptions. Most of the categories in the questionnaire align with those of the job descriptions. Which job seems to be the closest match to this position? Are the job duties/content comparable to other positions in your organization? At what level are those positions currently? Does placement at that level make sense in your organization? If the employee's current salary grade assignment is appropriate, maybe an in-grade salary adjustment is more appropriate in lieu of a full position review.

The Career Path Guidelines identify, in a table format, the core competencies for various job content factors including Technical Problem-Solving and Innovation, Project Planning and Management, Leadership/Technical Influence/Networking, and Technical Excellence. We hope this tool will be useful to PI's and Administrators for use in quickly identifying an appropriate job level for a particular position. In addition, employees can readily identify the level of competence required to progress from one level to the next.

Step 4 - Evaluate Budget Impact

Check the salary range for the job you've selected. Will your budget support the salary increase resulting from this action? Will this increase create any salary inequities with other positions in your organization?

Step 5 - Obtain Required Approval

The approval process may vary slightly in your school or department, but at a minimum, the Compensation Office requires the following signatures: employee, supervisor, and department administrator, Dean or VP. These approvals are collected on the Professional Staff Compensation Change Request Form and the Employee Signature Form.

Step 6 - Submit All Paperwork to Compensation Office

Submit the completed paperwork to the Compensation Office. For process information, refer to the Professional Staff Position Review Process webpage.

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