Effective January 1, 2024, the new Pay Structure will be implemented. Please see the new FY24 Grade Ranges 1.1.2024 and the Career Profile Database
The pay structure at Rice University is designed to help attract, retain, and motivate qualified individuals by providing salaries that reflect internal equity, external competitiveness, and individual performance.
Pay Structure: A pay structure provides a framework to determine the pay for employees. It includes a hierarchical grouping of salary ranges. Jobs in the same salary range have similar market pay targets. A pay structure is a tool used to simplify the administration and management of pay ranges for employees and their individual pay rates. A pay structure also consists of pay grades for jobs of similar internal and/or external worth. Rice University’s pay structure is built using market-based external compensation benchmark data, market pricing, and salary surveys, that support the pay ranges included in our structure.
Pay Equity: Compensating employees similarly when they perform substantially similar work or job duties while accounting for education, experience, skills/level, and performance.
Pay Grade: A pay structure is made up of pay grades. Jobs in the same pay grades have similar pay in the market. A pay grade is assigned to every staff job. The ranges are designed to keep our salaries competitive with similar jobs in the related job market. The HR Compensation team regularly compares Rice University’s staff jobs to external benchmarks to ensure that our pay grades are competitive.
Pay Range: Each pay grade has a pay range that includes a minimum, midpoint, and maximum. A job is paid between the minimum and maximum of its pay grade. Midpoints of the pay ranges represent Rice University’s desired competitive position in the external market, which is determined by a statistical calculation based on external salary survey data used to benchmark jobs in each pay grade. Pay ranges within each pay grade are based on qualifications, skills, experience, equity in comparison to similar positions, and external market values. Pay ranges allow for differences among positions within the same grade as well as increasing levels of responsibility and performance within the same job. Departments should also consider their budgets when determining salary ranges. Please click on the FY24 Grade Ranges 1.1.2024 for the latest Pay Ranges. *Please be aware that any salary request for new hires above the midpoint will need additional compensation review and approval.
Benchmarking: Refers to the process of comparing an organization's compensation practices, salary levels, and benefits against industry standards, competitor practices, or other relevant external benchmarks. This comparison helps organizations assess the competitiveness and effectiveness of their compensation packages.
Market-Based Benchmarking: This involves comparing an organization's compensation practices against industry standards and data from similar organizations or competitors within the same industry or region. It helps in understanding the prevailing market rates for specific job roles and ensures that the organization's compensation remains competitive.
To establish benchmarks, the University uses national surveys from reputable sources administered by compensation and career architecture experts. The survey data spans three key areas:
- Higher Education
- General Industry
- Specialized Industries (Finance, Communication & Marketing, Engineering, Information Technology, Athletics, etc.)