I follow Jack Welch's Leadership Blog on LinkedIn. Most posts are interesting, but every now and then one comes along that really hits home. The IPS Senior Leadership Team is committed to making IPS an "Employer of Choice."  That means we want employees who really want to work here, employees who believe in our mission, employees who are achieving their personal and professional goals.

Read Jack's insight and ask yourself these four questions.

Four Reasons to Quit Your Job

By Jack and Suzy Welch

What criteria can you use to determine if you have been with the same company too long?
 

A friend of ours, an investment manager at a highly regarded company in the Midwest, who drove to work one morning, parked his car in the usual spot, and then found he simply could not bring himself to get out of the car. “I guess I stayed on the farm one day too long,” he joked later. When we asked him what went wrong, he answered, “It wasn’t one thing. It was everything.” No wonder he drove home and called in his resignation.
 

Obviously, most people don’t decide they’ve overstayed at their companies in such a dramatic fashion. Usually, angst about work creeps in, and then builds until it consumes you. And that can happen early or late in a career. Gone are the days when, after graduation, you took the best available job and stayed for as many years as you could possibly stand, frustration be damned. These days, it is not unusual to hear of perfectly legitimate careers built on multiple job stints.
 

So, to your question, how can you tell when it’s time to move on? We wouldn’t set out specific criteria as much as offer four questions to help sort out an answer.
 

The first is so simple it almost goes without saying, but the fact that a lot of people don’t confront it, including our friend who ended up stuck in his car—a Harvard MBA, by the way—suggests we should go ahead and put it out there: Do you want to go to work every morning?

This is not a matter to be over-brained. Does the prospect of going in each day excite you or fill you with dread? Does the work feel interesting and meaningful or are you just going through motions to pull a paycheck? Are you still learning and growing?
 

We know of a woman who worked in consulting for seven years. She loved her firm and had originally planned a career with it, but suddenly started noticing that she wished every weekend was five days long. “Basically, I felt like we were putting together massive books in order to make recommendations to people who knew more than we did,” she said. “Every day at the office, I felt a little bit more of a hypocrite.” She now happily works on the “front lines,” to use her phrase, in the marketing department of a retail company.
 

Second, do you enjoy spending time with your coworkers or do they generally bug the living daylights out of you? We’re not saying you should only stay at your company if you want to barbecue with your team every weekend, but if you don’t sincerely enjoy and respect the people you spend 10 hours a day with, you can be sure you will eventually decide to leave your organization. Why not make the break sooner rather than later and start cultivating relationships at a company where you might actually plant roots?
 

Third, does your company help you fulfill your personal mission? Essentially, this question asks whether your company jibes with your life’s goals and values. Does it require you, for instance, to travel more than you’d like, given your chosen work-life balance? Does it offer enough upward mobility, given your level of ambition? There are no right or wrong answers to such questions, only a sense of whether you are investing your time at the right or wrong company for you.
 

Fourth and finally, can you picture yourself at your company in a year? We use that time frame because that’s how long it usually takes to find a new, better job once you decide to move on. So peer, as best you can, into the future, and predict where you’ll be in the organization, what work you’ll be doing, whom you will be managing, and who will be managing you. If that scenario strikes you with anything short of excitement, then you’re spinning your wheels. Or put another way, you’re just about to stay too long.
 

To be clear: We’re not suggesting people quit at the first inkling of discontent. No matter where you work, at some point you will have to endure difficult times, and even a deadly dull assignment, to survive a crisis or move up. But it makes little sense to stay and stay at a company because of inertia. Unlock your door and get out.
 

Jack Welch is Executive Chairman of the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. Through its Executive MBA program, the Jack Welch Management Institute provides students and organizations with the proven methodologies, immediately actionable practices, and respected credentials needed to win in business.

Suzy Welch is a best-selling author, popular television commentator, and noted business journalist. Her New York Times bestselling book, 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea, presents a powerful decision-making strategy for success at work and in parenting, love and friendship. Together with her husband Jack Welch, Suzy is also co-author of the #1 international bestsellerWinning, and its companion volume, Winning: The Answers. Since 2005, they have written business columns for several publications, including Business Week magazine, Thomson Reuters digital platforms, Fortune magazine, and the New York Times syndicate.
A version of this column originally appeared in BusinessWeek Magazine.

Happenings Across the Institute

About 50% of IPS staff attended one of the recent statewide staff meetings. This is a summary of the discussion points with a few additional tidbits of information that have developed since the meetings finished.

Outreach and Engagement Model – This is an initiative of the UT System Strategic Plan, Goal Three on Outreach and Engagement. Each campus and institute is developing a one-page model that describes how we "do" outreach and engagement. IPS staff can check-out our latest draft at http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/

 

The Horizon Project –  What are the big, compelling problems that IPS might attempt to address in five to ten years?  This effort is taking us through a process where we are taking a big-picture view and then getting significant feedback from staff and stakeholders. Crime, Education, Leadership, Social Responsibility and Local Government Finance are all currently being considered.

Baldrige teams and Strategy Implementation Teams – Baldrige Teams are short-term teams that are focused on updating our Baldrige applications that will be submitted next summer. We are applying for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence Level Three Recognition as part of our "accreditation" process. Strategy teams are long-term teams that are focused on initiatives of our strategic plan.

Budget update – Our budget information is on the Intranet at http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/2010_budget.asp.  Overall we are going into a good budget year with a 2.5% increase in base funding, 1.5% salary pool, and $500k for LEIC. The president is committed to helping to increase our funding again next year.

Salary plan – The new UT salary schedules were effective July 1.  They are posted on the UT HR web site at 

http://humanresources.tennessee.edu/compensation/schedules/index.html.  A condensed version with IPS-specific information is also posted on our intranet site at:

http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/2010_budget.asp. We will use these to set IPS target salaries using our standard ten-point scale for all staff.

 

We are distributing a 3.0% salary pool. 

• 1.5% is across the board to every employee with a $750 minimum increase. 
• A 1% pool is being distributed for market and internal equity as we continue to move all staff toward their target salary. 95.5% of all staff will be at or above target after these increases.
• A .5% pool is being distributed as one-time bonuses for merit, based on annual performance reviews that recognize our highest performing employees. These employees will receive $1400, $1000 or some percentage thereof based on percent time worked.

Every employee will receive a letter, hopefully before the end of July, indicating their new base salary.

 

Lots of great things are happening across the Institute. Thanks to all the great staff who represent the University so well to our customers.

Annual Performance Review Progress

The first half of the calendar year has passed quickly. If you aren't regularly reviewing your APR goals, now is a good time to do so. How are you doing? Need to make any adjustments in your goals? Have any questions about how you might score if the ratings were given this month? You don't have to wait on your supervisor to ask you these questions!  Go ahead and schedule time with your supervisor so that you are confident in your progress.

I was asked in one of the recent compensation meetings if IPS is trying to score a certain percent of  employees in each category or if we try to score on a Bell curve. No! I want all IPS employees to be high performing! Take a few minutes and confirm your progress and make a course adjustment if necessary. And, keep up the great work!

Types of Compensation

The UT Compensation Advisory Board (CAB) met recently to begin standardizing the way we talk about compensation across the university.  We agreed on common definitions for additional pay (often referred to as merit pay), incentive pay, bonus pay and retention pay.

A.      Merit Pay

Definition:  Merit Pay increases total compensation based on documented performance and contributions to achieve established performance goals and expectations within a defined period with a pre-approved method to assess an employee’s performance. Merit Pay may be in the form of increase to base pay or non-recurring lump sum payment.

B.      Incentive Pay

Definition:  An after-the-fact, pre-determined lump-sum payment to an individual or to a defined group to reward the accomplishment of specific results determined and documented at the onset of a defined period.

C.      Bonus Pay

Definition:  An after-the-fact, discretionary lump-sum payment to recognize exceptional service at a point in time.

D. Retention Payments

Retention Payment:  An infrequent situation in which an increase in total compensation is granted to a high-performing employee in a mission-critical position to retain his/her services. Such retention payments may or may not be associated with an offer of employment from another organization. Normally such payments would specify continued employment with the organization for a specific span of time.

CAB's recommendation will go to the president's staff for final approval and then will be adopted by all campuses and institutes. This is a great step in beginning to form an overall compensation strategy for the university.

FY2013 Compensation Plan

The following Compensation Plan is being submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval at its June Board Meeting:

IPS will distribute a total salary pool of 5%. The State has mandated an across-the-board increase while IPS wants to recognize meritorious performance as well. In addition, the Sibson Market Study provides sufficient information for IPS to continue closing its salary gap to reach market competitive salaries.

Categories:

 Across the Board - 2.5% for all staff who averaged at least 3.0 on APR ($1,000 minimum increase)

 Merit - .5% pool distributed

 Market/Equity - 2.0% pool considering:
     *Target (market) salary
     *Equity within agency/department
     *Equity within pay grade
     *Equity within job family
     *Percent of target

These proposed increases will result in approximately 92% of IPS staff receiving some form of increase. (92% across-the-board, 20% merit and 53% market). Staff with satisfactory work performance could conceivably receive increases in all three categories.

More information to follow when the plan is adopted.

Professional Development

Congratulations to the 40 employees who have already completed the minimum required 32 hours of professional development. Making time to sharpen our skills is an important part of being prepared to respond to our customer needs. With heavy customer demands, I know how challenging it can be to work in time for renewal.

Thanks for your great work!

MTAS
Melissa Ashburn 32.0
Nancy Gibson 37.0
Elaine Morrisey 72.5
Lisa Shipley 43.0
Steve Thompson 82.5
Linda Winstead 40.5
Dale Wolfe 40.0
CTAS
Elizabeth Adams 99.0
Mike Garland 36.0
Jim Hart 45.5
Don Johnson 54.0
Libby McCroskey 58.5
Brian Spears 49.0
CIS
Harding Aslinger37.7
Donna Bridges 33.0
Debra Dupree 49.0
Wendy Eddy 38.0
Joe Flynn 105.0
Tammy Gage 35.0
Walter Idol 61.0
Paul Jennings 44.0
Erin Ketelle 88.5
Dan Miller 62.5
Beth Paton 39.0
Earl Pomeroy 80.0
Russell Toone 88.0
Norma Wilcox 45.0
Bill Wiley 61.5
LEIC
Misty Bean 34.0
Gina Guinn 53.0
Donna Kelley 82.5
Emily Miller 48.0
Don Green 82.5
Central Office & Naifeh Center
Sherri Brown 35.0
Macel Ely 46.0
Mary Jinks 50.0
Judie Martin 38.5
Susan Robertson 38.5
Chuck Shoopman 34.0
Mike Tallent 45.8

Supervisor Survey

Research tells us that the relationship between an employee and his/her supervisor is the key to job satisfaction. In an effort to move toward an "employer of choice" model we have conducted a supervisors survey for each of the last five years.

We've had really good participate in the survey (in the 70% range for the last few years). We have used the results to plan supervisors' training, to craft individual development plans for supervisors and in annual performance reviews.

We've been watching the trends and you can see them here on the IPS Intranet under the Employee Relations tab. They are posted in the upper right hand corner.

IPS supervisors have consistently scored high in "giving clear direction," "being encouraging and optimistic," "being approachable and accessible," and "listening".

I look forward to this year's results. The survey is open the entire month of September, so look for emails and other communications with the link.

Diversity Profile

IPS staff recently completed a Diversity Profile survey. It gauged our "knowledge, understanding, acceptance and behavior" in a wide range of areas. Our HR/Diversity committee is studying the results and will make recommendations to the IPS leadership team on future activities.

Overall, IPS employees rated well on "knowledge of stereotypes", "acceptance as it relates to receptiveness" and "behavior as it relates to self-awareness."

Each agency director will receive results for his agency and is being asked to discuss them with his management team and then meet with his respective assistant vice president to discuss reactions and plans.

This is one of many initiatives on our path toward becoming an "employer of choice." Thanks for all who participated.

Annual Performance Reviews

The System HR Office recently released a report on the completion rate for annual performance reviews across the university. I'm happy to report that we are 100% complete.

2010 Performance Reviews Received
Through June 10, 2011

IPS Central Office (including Naifeh Center and Jackson office) - 20
CIS - 35
CTAS - 35
LEIC - 14
MTAS - 47

TOTAL 151

Performance reviews, of course, are only completed for staff who worked a substantial part of the year and are still with us then the performance review time rolls around. So, we have more employees than we have completed reviews. New employees participate in goal setting rather than a performance review and we also have 100% of our new employees with complete goals for the year.

Great job!

New Compensation Philosophy

I am representing IPS on the system-wide Compensation Advisory Board. One of our first tasks was to update the university's compensation philosophy statement. We studied the statements of several universities and Fortune 500 companies. We crafted a new statement for UT that was reviewed by a wide range of individuals across the university and ultimately approved by the President's Staff.


The new statement is published on the UT HR web site and copied below:

Compensation Philosophy

As a higher education system charged with serving the citizens of Tennessee, we recognize our faculty and staff as our most critical asset and our principle source of excellence. In order to achieve our mission of teaching, research and service, we must attract, retain and reward a highly qualified workforce. We achieve this objective by providing a total compensation package including base pay, benefits, personal and professional development, and the intrinsic values of working in an education environment. Our three guiding principles are:

The University's goal is to provide total compensation that is competitive within the relevant labor markets in which we compete to attract highly skilled and competent faculty and staff.

The University recognizes skills, experience and performance of faculty and staff and seeks to retain and develop employees by providing opportunities for learning, growth and career development.

The University's policies and practices are consistent with equal opportunity principles and applicable laws.

We recognize that there are many talents and contributions necessary to support the University of Tennessee. Compensation policies and procedures will support the university's strategic direction over the long term.

Compensation Plan - Part Three

The UT president formed a Compensation Advisory Board last year. I am the IPS representative on the board. One of the tasks of the board is to update the total compensation plan for the university. We contracted with SIBSON consulting firm to conduct the market analysis for the university.

The consulting firm is in the data gathering stage. They are meeting with each campus and institute to learn about the unique challenges for each entity. IPS formed a Market Analysis Team to help prepare for our meeting. The team consists of me, Judie Martin (HRO), Gail White (CBO), Bonnie Jones (representative from the HR Strategy Team) and Steve Thompson (representative from the leadership team.)

The team gathered historical data on the IPS compensation plan including our salary schedule, point plan and other relevant data. We also gathered market analysis data that included every new hire since 2005. In addition, we looked at all offers turned down and all turnovers in the last two years. All these data give us information about our market competitiveness.

Our team was the first to meet with the consultants on May 17. They were impressed with the amount of data gathering we had already completed and went through a list of good questions. If you are interested in seeing our responses,visit the Strategy Team SharePoint site. Click on the Human Resources folder and then the Market Analysis folder. We marked our responses as draft so that we can continue to collect input.

We expect a preliminary report in June and a final report in August. I'll keep everyone updated on our progress.

Compensation Plan - Part Two

Last week I wrote a blog about how we evaluate the credentials you bring to the job above the minimum requirements. So, what comes next? Here's a partial repost of last year's blog on the topic.

The method for calculating what we call the "target salary" is the same for every job family. We subtract the minimum salary from the midpoint salary for each pay grade. This number is divided by 10. The result gives us the value of each point. Your total points are multiplied by the value of each point. This number is then added to the minimum salary for the pay grade and voila - we have your target salary.

Every employee should understand how your points are calculated and thus how we arrive at your target salary. Our goal is to get 100% of our employees to their target salary. We started this process about a decade ago. We've had some good budget years and some lean budget years. We've made progress, but we still have a ways to go. We were hundreds of thousands of dollars below market in 2000 with virtually no employee at his/her target. We are working on a new salary schedule and an update to our plan, so it will be several months before we have new projections.

We are anticipating the legislature will approve the governor's proposal for an across the board increase. In addition, we are evaluating the possibility of awarding market and merit increases. More to come on this as the budget unfolds.

Compensation Plan - Part One

In a recent meeting with the HR/Diversity Strategy Team someone suggested I blog about the IPS compensation plan. I actually did this last year, so here's a repost of part of the blog. The first step in our process is writing the job description, aka PDQ.

The second step in the compensation process is comparing an individual's qualifications to the qualifications of their particular position. We evaluate three primary factors including education, experience and other credentials. We've developed a ten point scale (that varies slightly for a few positions) where you can earn one point for education beyond the minimum required on the PDQ, eight points for experience beyond the minimum required, and one point for other credentials. All these factors must be job related. For example, if you have three years experience in retail prior to becoming a city manager and subsequently an MTAS management consultant, the three years in retail would not count as job related experience above the minimum required for the position.

Once each individual is evaluated, the total number of points earned is calculated. An individual could have anywhere from 0 - 10 points above the minimum. This calculation positions us for the next step in the compensation process.

Judie Martin works with agencies every year to keep our point calculations current. It is important that you keep your supervisor informed when you earn an additional degree or a designation such as CPA. We just completed this process for 2011, so if you have not seen your points calculation - ASK FOR IT!

IPS Awards

The awards nomination process is still open. Please take this opportunity to nominate a deserving colleague. I'm anxious to give away the money!


And, for those of you who may not know, all the awards are funded by generous donations from current and previous employees and friends. An endowment provides annual income for the awards, so no matter how bad the budget gets, we still have cash to give away. Let's do it!

Compensation Advisory Board Announcement

STARTING JULY 1, 2011 UT’S MINIMUM STARTING PAY RATE WILL INCREASE TO $8.50 per hour for Regular Full- and Part-time Employees.

This is the first initiative recommended by the Compensation Advisory Board in its advisory role assisting in the development of the University’s first strategic compensation plan. The idea to increase UT’s minimum starting pay rate came from UT employee comments and suggestions to the Board of Trustees’ Effectiveness and Efficiency for the Future Committee and to the President’s UTalk forum for employees. These employees expressed concern about pay levels of their co-workers in the first three pay grades.

CAB will continue its work in identifying best total compensation practices, developing a multi-year compensation strategy and developing the infrastructure for competitive compensation at UT.

“ALL OF OUR EMPLOYEES - FACULTY AND STAFF - ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE SUCCESS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE.” President Joe DiPietro

Although there are no employees in IPS affected by this new policy, it is an important first step in our comprehensive compensation review.

New IPS CBO

Please welcome Gail White to IPS! Gail joins IPS today as only the third CBO in our 40 year history. That's amazing.

Gail has tremendous experience in the UT's Treasurer's Office as well as private sector experience before coming to UT. She is a native Tennessean and holds a CPA.

I look forward to Gail providing leadership in our business services area.

IPS Employees at Work

IPS employees spend the bulk of their time working directly for our primary. customers. However, being part of the university requires us to commit some amount of time to serving on university-wide committees and task forces. The goal of each of these groups is to make the university a better place to work.

There are currently four active task forces with the following representatives:



* HR Policies Reviews - Bonnie Jones, MTAS
* Healthy "campus" initiative - Mandy Johnson, LEIC
* Compensation Advisory Board - Mary Jinks, central office
* Equity and Diversity strategy implementation team - Don Green, LEIC

I have asked each of these team members to give us a periodic update on the work of their group.

IPS Awards

Pat Hardy, MTAS management consultant and team leader, and representatives from each agency met during the fall and early winter to review the entire IPS Awards program. It's hard to believe that it has been in place since 1978! Thanks to this team's excellent work, we made some improvements this year that will make it easier to understand who is eligible for which award.

There is excellent work going on across the institute on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we do not always take time to recognize it as much as we should. This is one formal way for employees to recognize their colleagues.

Please take 10 minutes and make a nomination - or several nominations! We typically give away about $7000 per year, so let's make the most of it.

Award site link

Professional Afilliations

Each one of us has some sort of professional area of expertise. It may be legal, financial, administrative, manufacturing, public safety or any number of areas that exist throughout IPS. One way to nurture that area of expertise is to be involved in professional associations.

As you think about your professional development plans for the year, consider how you might be more involved professionally. Budgets are tight, but there are plenty of opportunities within the state. As budgets improve, there will be more opportunities to travel out of state. Many state associations have regional affiliates and national affiliates. Some of my most rewarding experiences have come from serving on regional and national boards and councils. We have several staff members who have also held offices, such as Richard Stokes in human resources associations.

If you have not already, consider affiliating with a professional organizational. It will enrich your work experience.

Annual Performance Reviews

It's that time of year! It won't be long before you'll be hearing from your agency director about this year's process. So, why do we conduct APRs?

You should have regular discussions and/or receive regular feedback about your performance throughout the year. The APR process is simply the method we use to document your performance for this specific period of time.

There should be no surprises during the APR process. This is not a time to save up complaints or compliments. Those should be distributed throughout the year when they are warranted.

The APR process is used to evaluate the previous year and to agree on a work plan for the coming year. It is a process to summarize on one page the overall accomplishments of the individual.

What do we do with the data? After the forms have been reviewed with the agency director, appropriate assistant vice president and the vice president, the APR forms go in your official personnel file at the university's human resource office. The performance review summary is entered in to IRIS as a part of your official electronic personnel record. Then, when we have an opportunity to give merit/bonus pay, we have documentation to justify our decisions.

So, let's look forward to the process with anticipation. It should be a positive experience. We are providing training to all supervisors to help improve the process. Be sure to provide feedback when you get the opportunity.