Division News & Statements
2021 Pay Equity Study Results
January 11, 2022
In keeping with best practices, the university recently conducted a pay equity study in partnership with Segal, a human resources consulting firm. It had been quite some time since we had an outside firm study our compensation structure, and we are pleased the findings show GVSU is using the proper criteria to determine salary. We moved quickly to adjust the small percentage of faculty and AP staff identified as outliers in the study.
The university engaged Segal to determine if there were systemic inequities with regard to salaries based on race, ethnicity or gender. The total number of employees studied was 1,748 (1,046 faculty and 702 AP staff). The data provided was from October 2020. Segal conducted a comprehensive, independent and statistical analysis using multiple variables, including years of service, experience, rank/role and division/department, and their relationship to pay. The focus was to determine the primary drivers of pay and to examine any impact gender and/or race/ethnicity may have on pay levels.
Here were the key results:
- The primary drivers of GVSU’s pay appear appropriate.
- The primary drivers of pay for faculty are rank and division.
- The primary drivers of pay for AP staff are market data and experience.
- Among tenure-track faculty, race/ethnicity was not noted as a statistically significant variable.
- Among tenure-track faculty, gender may be a statistically significant variable, but there may be other reasons for the variance: GVSU females earn 98.6 percent of their male counterparts (97 percent in higher education nationally).
- Two percent of people in the study (43) needed an equity adjustment.
All low outliers were adjusted during the annual salary program, changes took effect August 6, 2021.
Human Resources worked with supervisors to bring salaries in line with the standard pay range for positions and notified those affected by the pay adjustment.
We are committed to equity in our pay structure and to conduct outside reviews on a regular basis. If you have questions, please ask your supervisor or contact Becky Berrevoets or Deb Sanders in Human Resources.