University of Colorado

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• University of Colorado
• HR Survey Summary
• June 17, 2004

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About the Survey

• PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted a survey on
  behalf of the University of Colorado on HR
  policies and procedures, compensation practices
  and benefits programs at other large, public
  university systems.
• Participants were provided with the HR Survey in
  advance of a phone interview. Responses to the
  interview were taken by phone with follow-up on
  some questions conducted after the interview.
• A detailed summary of the survey responses is
  provided separately.

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Participants

• The following universities participated in the
  survey
• University of Alabama
• University of Arizona
• University of Colorado
• University of Illinois
• University of Missouri
• University of North Carolina

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Findings General HR

• Of the six universities included in the survey,
  four participate in state personnel systems and
  two do not.
• Most universities use similar employee
  categories.
• CU is the only university to classify research
  grant staff as faculty regardless of whether they
  teach or not. All other universities classify
  research grant staff both as faculty (if they are
  teaching) and as professional staff (if they are
  not teaching).
• With the exception of one university, all
  universities have different HR policies and
  procedures for faculty.

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Findings General HR (Contd)

• CU has the most restrictive personnel policy for
  state classified employees.
• Most universities have similar at will policies
  as CU.
• There is only one university where both policies
  and procedures are set centrally this university
  does not participate in the state personnel
  system.
• HR budget information was either not available or
  only available for one campus. So it was not
  possible to make meaningful survey comparisons.

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Findings General HR (Contd)

• None of the universities conduct formal
  benchmarking on an on-going basis.
• Most of the universities do not outsource HR
  functions.

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Findings - Compensation

• All universities use market comparisons for
  faculty compensation structure.
• CU is one of only two universities that do not
  use market comparisons for exempt staff
  compensation structure.
• CU is one of only two universities that use
  government standards for determining salaries of
  state classified employees.

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Findings Health and Welfare

• All universities offer basic life, supplemental
  life, ADD, medical and dental insurance,
  flexible spending accounts and employee
  assistance programs to almost all employees.
• Only two universities, including CU, do not offer
  long term care benefits to employees.
• Most universities do not offer group legal, group
  auto, group homeowners or elder care benefits.

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Findings Health and Welfare (Contd)

• For all universities, benefits offered are
  similar for all employee categories except for
  state mandated benefits.
• Most universities extend benefits to part-time
  employees if they work 50 or greater.
• CU has the lowest health and welfare benefit
  costs as a percentage of payroll.
• Most universities fully insure benefits except
  for medical in some cases.

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Findings Retirement Plans

• CU is the only university to exclude faculty from
  their defined benefit plan.
• Three of the four universities with state
  personnel systems exclude the state classified
  employees from their defined contribution plans.
• All universities offer retiree medical coverage
  to almost all employees.

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Findings Retirement Plans (Contd)

• CU has the highest retirement plan cost as a
  percentage of payroll.
• Only two of the universities provide lump sum
  benefits.
• Most universities have either immediate or close
  to immediate defined benefit plan eligibility
  with no age requirement.

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Findings Educational Benefits

• Only two universities, including CU, offer no
  educational benefits to spouses or children of
  employees.

13
Findings Paid Time Off

• All universities except CU have twelve sick days
  for all employees.
• Only one university provides vacation benefits to
  9-month or 10-month faculty.

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Findings Future Initiatives

• All four universities in a state personnel
  system, including CU, are considering leaving the
  state personnel system in some capacity.