The Wright Stuff: Salary cap issue addressed

A message to the WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals Family

One of my favorite ways to connect with employees is during a weekly breakfast that I host. About 30 employees – close to 1,500 a year – attend the breakfast. This is my chance to update you on what’s happening in the organization, and to get your feedback on what’s working and how can we can improve.

One topic that comes up at the breakfasts on a regular basis is the salary cap that impacts many of you.

Let me provide a little background.

Every year, we review each employee’s compensation and compare it against similar positions in the market. This helps ensure that our wages are competitive and that you are fairly compensated.

In addition, each employee is assigned a salary range. An employee just starting his/her career will start at or around the minimum range, while an employee with extensive relevant experience will progress to the maximum range.

There are many employees – around 1,071 – who are paid at the maximum range in the market. These employees’ salaries are capped.

In the past, as a token of appreciation, these highly-skilled employees would receive a lump-sum bonus – valued at 1% of their salary – when the rest of employees, who were not at their maximum range, would receive their annual market adjustment.

While it was clear that you appreciated the 1% bonus, you asked that we re-visit our policy. Well, we did, and we are making a change that we think you will like.

When we announce the 2017 house-wide market adjustment for employees later this year (probably in December), employees with a salary cap will receive that same amount in a lump-sum bonus.

We studied this issue long and hard, as we wanted to be able to recognize experienced staff without pricing ourselves out of the market. We believe this solution provides a good balance, and we hope you will agree.

As you can see, your feedback is valued and helps strengthen the organization. If you haven’t attended “Breakfast with Albert,” please talk with your manager about being added to the invitation list. And don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly with your ideas.