Safety and Security Car
David Scibilia/The Bona Venture
BY: DAVID SCIBILIA, MANAGING EDITOR
St. Bonaventure University’s 2023 compensation study aimed to give raises to all faculty and staff. But these raises partially excluded housekeeping and security.
The study’s first phase brought everyone who wasn’t making 80% of the market median for their position to that threshold, according to a November 2023 staff Notice Board announcement. This did not apply to housekeeping and security.
The study’s second phase aimed to provide at least a 2% raise for everyone — including housekeeping and security. This raised their rate from a baseline of $15 to a baseline of $15.30 an hour, according to the announcement.
Since the study’s completion, the university is at 90% of salary medians when looking at the entire pool of faculty and 89% for all staff when compared to peer institutions, said Dan Hungerford, the university’s former vice president for Finance and Administration.
However, as faculty and staff salaries continued to increase, housekeeping and security staff’s pay stayed static at $15.30.
Although everyone in these positions start at 30 cents above New York’s minimum wage, university-declared high performers can make an additional 50 cents an hour.
“High performers are identified through annual performance evaluations conducted by their supervisors,” said Kyle Leslie, director of Talent Acquisition and Employee Services. “These evaluations help assess and recognize exceptional performance within the housekeeping and Security departments. housekeeping and Security employees who demonstrate higher performance levels receive higher pay rates, while those with lower performance are paid at a lower rate.”
However, $15.30 is the lowest the pay rate will go, said Leslie.
The university did not comment on what specific qualities make someone a high performer.
Full-time housekeeping and security personnel gain access to university benefits, such as paid time off, 10% 403b contribution with no required match — a form of retirement planning, health insurance and tuition remission and exchange, said Hungerford.
There are no differences in the benefits offered to full-time faculty than those offered to full-time housekeeping and security employees, said Leslie.
Bonaventure functions on a fixed budget — a budget that does not change based on activity throughout the year.
“Compensation increases are factored into the university’s overall annual budget,” said Leslie. “Raises are provided contingent on the university meeting its enrollment targets.”
The university did not comment on how enrollment targets can directly affect raises.
Despite this, Hungerford said staff could expect raises in the future.
“We have built pay raises into the operational budgets of our five-year strategic plan based on our enrollment projections,” said Hungerford. “State minimum wage increases have averaged 5% a year over the last three years, and are scheduled to continually increase.”
The university did not comment on who, specifically, the raises would benefit or the percentage or dollar amount these raises would amount to.
The university worked with The Segal Group — a benefits and human resources consulting firm — for two years to identify gaps and determine peer institutions for wage and benefits comparison, said Hungerford.
scibild22@bonaventure.edu
