Reward Strategy

Valuing Work @ Wellesley College, the integrated program of performance management, skills and career development, and compensation for administrative staff at the College, has been designed to articulate, support and reinforce the value of work in our organization in order to ensure our continued success. At the start of the project, Wellesley College articulated a reward strategy that would build a bridge between the College's mission and strategic plans and the actions and desired behaviors of the administrative staff. Wellesley College's reward strategy serves as the foundation for the policies and practices relating to how we compensate employees and enables us to compete successfully in hiring and retaining high performing administrative employees.

Key Success Factors

Senior leadership, faculty chairs of academic departments, managers and administrative employees throughout the College provided input about the key factors that make Wellesley College successful. Underlying elements that are critical to this success are:

· Providing a world-class, premier educational experience for women that is reflected in the quality and diversity of our students, faculty and administrative staff, high academic standards, and exceptional levels of service

· Seeking ways to more effectively deliver educational services through a strong organizational structure, technology and operations

· Strengthening and maintaining our financial foundation through resource development and sound fiscal management.

Desired Behaviors

Valuing Work @ Wellesley looks at the roles we all play as contributors to the mission of Wellesley College. Seven factors or areas of competencies were identified as being important (in varying degrees) to all types of work at the College. These competencies include: Service to Constituents, Expertise, Accountability/Responsibility, Collaboration, Communication, Innovation & Problem Solving/Critical Thinking, and Development of Self and Others. These competencies are used to determine how roles are classified at Wellesley College. These competencies reflect the desired behaviors that Wellesley College wants to recognize and reward.

Performance Management

The Performance Management component of Valuing Work provides the process, tools and standards required to help each individual and group contribute meaningfully to Wellesley's success and to be recognized and rewarded for that contribution. The Performance Management system at Wellesley College is designed to provide alignment between the College's mission, constituent needs and performance expectations. The program fosters ongoing two-way communication between employees and managers; supports the development of clear, consistent, and measurable goals linked directly to Wellesley's core values and competencies; helps to articulate and support training needs and career development; and establishes the criteria for making reward and recognition decisions.

Reward Systems

The critical function of our reward strategy is to serve as a road map to reach our goals. The reward strategy aligns the following components with Wellesley College's reward programs.

· The College's overall mission and goals
· Key success factors
· Desired behavior for all staff including managers and senior leadership
· Performance Management

The rewards Wellesley College offers its administrative staff include: base salary, alternative rewards which include special rewards and recognition, and employee benefits.

Base Salary

The purposes of base salary (your salary) are:

· To enable Wellesley to attract and retain desired talent

· To acknowledge capabilities and competencies

· To assure compensation opportunity is fair and consistent with performance

Base salary is determined by experience level, the market rate, and internal equity for new hires, transfers, promotions and adjustments. Future increases in base salary are determined by individual performance as assessed through the performance management process.

A key component of Wellesley College's Rewards Strategy is that compensation opportunity is fair and consistent with performance - merit pay. An excellent performer should be rewarded more than a mediocre or poor performer. The ongoing performance management process is the basis for decisions made by managers about salary increases.

Alternative Rewards and Recognition

Wellesley College wants to recognize truly outstanding performance and will use alternative rewards and recognition programs to accomplish this. An effective performance management program creates the essential basis for more innovative reward systems to acknowledge excellence.

The purposes of alternative rewards and recognition are:

· To encourage and reward excellent performance

· To support teamwork and collaboration

· To provide timely, personalized rewards and recognition

Alternative rewards and recognition programs are designed to enable Wellesley College to reward its best performers and to acknowledge actions that support Wellesley's continued success.

Employee Benefits

The purpose of employee benefits is:

· To provide health and welfare security to employees for current and future needs

· To be competitive with academic institution practices and reflective of our values

· To provide employees with the flexibility to address needs related to personal circumstances Employee benefits are an important component of the total rewards package that Wellesley College offers its staff.

Together the three components of Wellesley College's reward systems, base salary, alternative rewards and recognition programs, and employee benefits, enable the College to attract and retain high performing administrative staff which will help ensure that the College is able to achieve its mission and accomplish its strategic goals.