Project Background
In 2024, ETSU began work to update its staff classification and compensation structure and further address market gaps in faculty and staff salaries. The project to transition to a new classification and compensation structure was completed in the summer of 2025. Work to close market gaps in employee compensation is ongoing.
Our Previous System
ETSU’s previous classification and compensation structure was established by the Tennessee Board of Regents in 2004. The previous system was designed to encourage equity across staff positions with similar levels of responsibility and knowledge required but did not take into consideration market values with respect to compensation. Additionally, the current structure lacked the flexibility necessary to easily make compensation adjustments that account for employees’ changing roles and responsibilities, knowledge and skillsets, or market competitiveness. The prior system therefore created challenges in recruiting, retaining, and rewarding top employees to serve our university community and advance our strategic goals.
The Case for Change
Following the lead of many other public universities in Tennessee, ETSU sought to update its staff classification and compensation structure to better meet the demands of the modern workforce and advance the university’s strategic goals.
Goals
The goals of the project were:
- Develop a system capable of adapting to changing roles and responsibilities
- Ensure fairness
- Ensure compliance with applicable labor laws and regulations
- Better attract and retain high-quality employees
- Support ETSU’s strategic plan
- Better manage costs and align budgets to institutional priorities
Outcomes
Outcomes of this process included development of
- A classification structure based on uniform criteria including job duties and knowledge requirements
- A compensation framework that allocates positions to key market ranges reflecting their relative value to the organization and the marketplace
- Market ranges aligned with both the private sector external labor market and peer higher education institutions
Progress and Process
ETSU began by taking an in-depth look at the staff classification and compensation structures at other universities, particularly those in Tennessee. We then developed a proposed model based on job families, which are classifications or groupings of positions based on the specific duties, knowledge and skills required for a particular job.
Job Families
By transitioning to a job family model, ETSU was able to simplify the job classification system overall while simultaneously accommodating the unique attributes of the wide array of roles and responsibilities required to effectively run the enterprise. Though the job family model ultimately reduces the number of job classifications—from more than 800 classifications to just under 300 under the new structure—the job families are structured to better account for differences in scopes of responsibilities and the expertise required to carry out those responsibilities.
In developing the job families, HR staff
- Reviewed job families at other higher education institutions in Tennessee
- Hired a consultant to provide guidance in developing a new compensation structure related to job families
- Crafted detailed position description questionnaires
- Met with subject matter experts (SMEs) for each proposed job family to ensure the qualifications and content of each job family accurately represents the work of employees at the institution
Once the definitions of the job families were finalized, ETSU’s HR team worked with supervisors across the institution to place each employee in the job family that best reflects their roles and responsibilities. It is important to note that employees’ working titles did not change as a result of this process. Though an employee may have moved from a “coordinator” classification to a “communications and marketing professional” classification, that individual’s working title remains what it has always been. Additionally, no one received a reduction in salary as a result of this process.
Market Ranges
Once all staff members were assigned to a new job family, ETSU began working with an outside consulting firm to develop market ranges for each staff job family and level. Additionally, the university worked with the consultant to conduct an initial analysis of how ETSU’s current pay scales compare to market rates and those of peer institutions.
A market range represents the possible salary range for a staff member in a given job family.
Note: Faculty members do not have market ranges. Instead, we have identified market targets, based on data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).
A salary toward the bottom end of a market range may be appropriate for an employee with minimal experience and skills. A salary toward the top end of a range may be appropriate for an employee with exceptional skills and vast experience in that role. Most employees’ salaries should fall somewhere in the middle of the range, representing the average skills and experience level for the position.
Salary Enhancements
ETSU’s goal is to ensure that all staff members are paid within the market range for their assigned job family and that all faculty salaries meet at least the market target. However, this will likely take several years to accomplish.
In 2024-25, the university identified, and the Board of Trustees approved, approximately $4.1 million to put toward salary enhancements to move employees below their market range or target closer to market rates. Approximately $2.1 million of these funds were used to improve faculty salaries and more than $2 million were used to fund staff salary enhancements.
During the 2025-26 academic year, the university identified an additional $1.5 million for salary enhancements, which were applied to salaries in May 2026. For 2025-26, all benefits-eligible staff members received a $730 annual increase to base pay. Additionally, 298 faculty members received varying increases calculated to move salaries closer to market targets.
Learn more about salary enhancements.
Classification and Compensation Policy
In 2025, ETSU also revised its Compensation Plan Policy to reflect the changes outlined above.