Colorado State University
PA-12: Employee Compensation

Colorado State's lowest regular pay grade (excluding temporary and probationary positions of six months or less) is Dining Services II. The CSU HR office confirmed that all regular (i.e. permanent) positions on campus, including Dining Services II, receive benefits. Our methodology for this credit was using the lowest pay grade's median salary of $30,900 and adding the dollar value of university benefits. Wherever possible, benefits were specifically calculated for a Dining Services II pay grade (see attached document for specific details).

The University’s State Classified employees are eligible for a wide array of benefits including the following:
• Medical Insurance (Vision and Rx)
• Dental Insurance
• Medicare
• Life Insurance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• Worker's Compensation
• Unemployment Insurance
• Leave Sharing
• Flexible Spending Accounts (medical and dependent care)
• Mandatory and voluntary retirement plans (PERA and the University’s 403b vendors)
• Health Fairs and Wellness Programs
• Tuition Scholarship Program
• Employee Study Privilege
• Commuter Transit Benefit
• Parking Discount
• Childcare Discounts

Details on benefits can be found at http://www.hrs.colostate.edu/benefits/. In addition, CSU also provides an Employee Assistance Program (https://eap.colostate.edu/) and Commitment to Campus (http://facultyandstaff.colostate.edu/commitment-to-campus.aspx) program to assist all staff, but particularly our lowest paid staff, with valuable resources, discounts, and benefits that range from family counseling to legal assistance to tickets to athletic and cultural events. Only benefits directly related to health, education, retirement savings, and family care were calculated for this credit. Other benefits including athletic tickets, cultural tickets, and discounts with community businesses were not included in this credit.

As of September 1, 2018, CSU adopted a living wage and adjusted salaries for those making less than $30,000 to $30,000 and addressed the compression that results from these adjustments as defined within this analysis. For employees working at a level of less than satisfactory (i.e. State Classified “Level 1” or “Administrative Professional "Unsatisfactory”), salaries are adjusted for the Living Wage to the $30K minimum but do not address the impact of Compression until performance issues are mitigated. In performing our analysis, we focused on all existing State Classified and Administrative Professional employees with salaries less than $30,000 and those over $30,000 where compression existed. We’ve engage impacted units across campus as well as APC (Administrative Professional Council) and CPC (Classified Personnel Council) Leadership in the formulation of the methodology and resulting impacts.

https://source.colostate.edu/guest-column-living-wage-for-employees-has-positive-impacts/

We recognize that it may appear to be a data outlier for a university as large as CSU to not report contractors as part of regular campus operations. All of our dining services, cleaning/custodial, maintenance, groundskeeping, snow removal, parking/bike operations, trash/recycling/composting, bookstore operations, etc. are self-operated and we do not have contractors on campus as part of regular operations. This is a point of pride for CSU and while it pose challenges for this credit to directly employ our lowest paid staff, we believe that the benefits package (including health insurance, paid time off, transportation assistance, study privilege and tuition discount) is the best way to support and foster growth for our lowest paid staff members.

It is also worth noting that while CSU has many temporary staff that are not considered regular (i.e. permanent) employees, many still receive benefits. All State Classified hourly staff receive benefits by virtue of being employed and any State Classified employee who works 8 hours or more per month also receives the State's contribution toward their benefits. Administrative Professional hourly employees who work 50% time or greater are eligible for benefits. In addition, any staff member (student, non-student hourly, or graduate assistant) who works for 30 or more hours per week is eligible for Affordable Care Act health insurance and CSU requires supervisors to flag those staff members when they fill out the new employee form in the HR system so benefits can be offered.

When reporting compensation for Colorado State University, it is important to note that CSU is a state employer bound by the state classified rules of classification and selection for state classified employees. Information about the compensation system and pay structure can be found on the State of Colorado's Division of Human Resources' Department of Personnel & Administration website at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dhr/compensation. The State of Colorado annually produces a compensation report working with a consultant that included a market analysis of state classified salaries ranges.