Job Analysis at UIC

An electronic questionnaire is one way information is being gathered.

(Photo courtesy AADE.)

By Anniese Lemond, Director, Compensation

THE JOB analysis process at UIC is well underway with more than 800 interviews having been conducted for Aca­demic Professional (AP) positions across the campus. This process seeks to systematically study, define, and document the duties, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the jobs performed by APs to ensure they are appropriately categorized as Academic Professional or if they should be converted to a Civil Service position. While there is significant consternation over the impacts of the process (e.g. conversion), there are positive outcomes as well. In the end, there will be a more organized and understandable approach to jobs (including titling, roles/responsibilities, compensation, etc.), an online job library that contains con­sistent job descriptions (not PAPEs) for use across the organization; and the job foundation necessary to develop and implement a meaningful approach to pay, establish career pathways and training programs for employees, im­prove selection processes, develop performance based reward programs, etc.

Senate Bill 1150 – The Washroom Act

EVEN AS Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares continues to lend her full commitment and support to the audit compli­ance, job analysis, and conversion processes, interest in these areas have increased significantly. The most dis­concerting is the recent action taken by certain legislators in the Illinois State Senate. A bill has been proposed, voted on, and passed to the State House that seeks to revoke the current ability of public universities to classify non-teaching employees as Academic Professional. The bill passed the State Senate, but failed in the State House. As more information is received on this issue, it will be communi­cated as appropriate.

Job Analysis - What Your Unit Can Expect

THERE ARE a series of steps required to ensure that the job analysis process runs smoothly. Most critical, however, is the collaboration of the college/unit and the HR Office.

COMMUNICATIONS (STEP 1): At the outset, the college/unit leaders are invited to participate in a planning meeting to review the process steps, potential outcomes, roles, and responsibilities and to provide initial feedback, share concerns, and get questions an­swered. Following the planning meeting, a series of town-hall like meetings will be conducted for all staff members in the college/unit to communicate the process, goals, outcomes, and the potential impacts to the employees.


DATA COLLECTION (STEP 2): College/unit managers and employees will be asked to provide information about the work being performed by the Academic Professional staff. This information will be collected in two ways via an electronic questionnaire and a face-to-face interview. The questionnaire is designed to gain information about what duties are performed and should be provided prior to the face-to-face interview. The interview will drill down into those duties to determine how they are performed.

EMPLOYMENT CATEGORIZATION DETERMINATION (STEP 3): Once the data is aggregated (via a draft job description), a recommendation for employment categorization (i.e., AP or CS) will be made. The draft descriptions will be turned over to the designated college/unit managers for review. At that time managers will have the ability to modify the documents and make alternate recommendations for cate­gorization. In collaboration with the HR Office, final job descriptions will be created to represent all of the positions reviewed.

MORE COMMUNICATIONS (STEP 4): Employees will be provided with final copies of job descriptions as well as information about the appropriate catego­rization of their position.

CONVERSION (STEP 5): In the event that conversion of positions becomes necessary, affected employees will be invited to participate in various communications sessions (group meetings, individual meetings, etc.) to ensure that information is dissemi­nated and that questions are answered in a timely manner. Employees will be provided as much written information as possible but will always have access to the subject matter experts involved in the process.

Tentative Timeline

WHILE THE AP positions in all units and departments at UIC will be reviewed in the coming months, the process is furthest along at the UIC Medical Center. During the first review phase, approximately 325 were reviewed and 260 positions were deemed to have been inappropriately exempted. Job analyses have been conducted in the offices of the Chancellor, Provost, Central Human Resources, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Athletics, the Honors College, and the Academic Computing and Communications Center (ACCC). Results of those analyses (and re­quired conversions, if any) are forthcoming. Due to college/unit operational needs, this timeline may be adjusted.

College	Populatn.	Interview Time Range
Off. Of Admissions & Records	60	w/o 6/6/11-w/o 6/13/11
Business & Financial Serv.	111	w/o 6/6/11-w/o 6/27/11
Off. Of Public Affairs	16	w/o 6/6/11-w/o 6/13/11
Library	28	w/o 6/27/11-w/o 7/18/11
Facilities Management	40	w/o 7/4/11-w/o 7/11/11
Dentistry	136	w/o 7/18/11-w/o 8/15/11
VC for Research	164	w/o 7/25/11-w/o 8/29/11
VC for External Affairs	12	w/o 8/8/11-w/o 8/15/11
VC Administrative Servs. &	31	w/o 8/29/11-w/o 9/19/11
Utilities Administration-UIC
Liberal Arts & Sciences	217	w/o 9/12/11-10/24/11
Applied Health Sciences	143	w/o 9/26/11-w/o 10/24/11
Executive Offices	17	w/o 10/10/11-w/o 10/24/11
VP for Academic Affairs &	40	w/o 11/14/11-w/o 12/12/11
VP Technology & Econ. Dev. &
Admin. Info. Technology Servs.
Architecture & the Arts	53	w/o 11/21/11-w/o 11/28/11
VC for Development	42	w/o 12/5/11-w/o 12/18/11
Social Work	97	w/o 1/2/12-w/o 1/16/12
Urban Planning & Public Affairs	114	w/o 1/9/12-w/o 1/30/12
UIF & Alumni Association	10	w/o 1/23/12-w/o 1/30/12
Pharmacy	264	w/o 2/6/12-w/o 4/2/12
University Audits &	10	w/o 2/13/12-w/o 2/20/12
Utilities Administration-UA &
Capital Prgms./Real Estate Servs.
Education	143	w/o 2/27/12-w/o 3/26/12
School of Continuing Studies	51	w/o 3/5/12-w/o 4/16/12
School of Public Health	295	w/o 4/23/12-w/o 6/25/12
Nursing	121	w/o 5/21/12-w/o 6/11/12
Graduate College	10	w/o 5/21/12-w/o 5/28/12
CBA-Business Administration	59	w/o 6/11/12-w/o 7/30/12
Engineering	98	w/o 7/9/12-w/o 7/23/12
College of Medicine *	1204	w/o 8/13/12-w/o 12/17/12
* College of Medicine-- Teams 1 & 2 will begin interviewing w/o 8/13/12. Team 3 will begin interviewing w/o 9/3/12.

WE RECOGNIZE that the operations of the University do not stop as a result of the job analysis process and that there will be instances where new employees will need to be hired. As such, working in collaboration with the Office of Access and Equity (OAE) many of the new hiring processes have been modified to ensure the continued, smooth operation of the University. These changes enable us to meet the commitments made to the Merit Board to report all new Academic Professional new hires to the SUCSS Office monthly and to communicate our seriousness re­lated to the fixing these issues.

Hiring Processes Changes

NEW POSITIONS: If there is a need to hire (including visiting positions), a new first step is to submit request for a job analysis review to HR Compensation at jobanalysis@uic.edu. This is necessary to determine whether or not the position should be categorized as AP or Civil Service and which hiring process should be followed.

AT THE end of the job analysis interview, a job description (either AP or CS) will be created for use during the hiring process. Note that OAE will not accept job documentation (job descriptions or PAPEs) that have not been ap­proved by HR Compensation or have expired (i.e. older than three years). Please do not submit new PAPE requests or requests to update PAPEs via the Department Accessible Region for Transactions (DART) application. Current PAPEs will be allowed for use in the hiring process so long as they are not older than three years, and you believe the job is appropriate as an Academic Professional and does not exist in the CS class.

EXISTING SEARCHES: If a college/unit is in the midst of a candidate search, there are several things to consider. First, if the job analysis process is underway or has concluded in the college/unit and the position (or like positions) has been determined to be CS, the search cannot proceed. The college/unit cannot hire into an AP position when it matches a CS class. If the job analysis process is not underway or concluded but the job documentation is cur­rent (i.e. not older than three years), the search may continue if you are certain that the position meets the criteria for AP and does not exist in the CS class. If there are any questions, please contact HR Compensation immedi­ately. Second, if the search is near conclusion and an offer of employment has been extended but the position should be CS, the candidate should be notified immediately as the position will be converted to CS immediately upon hire. Third, though units have the capability for direct entry, academic hourly appointments are not allowable. Remem­ber, all new hires are reviewed and will be reported to SUCSS monthly. If an academic hourly appointment is made, it will be immediately converted to CS Extra Help. Finally, revisions to the new hire system (Hire Touch) are being made to include additional routing to the HR Compensation office for review and approval of the job documentation (i.e. PAPE or job description) to ensure that the appropriate hiring process is being followed. This new routing step will occur after the manager reviews and ap­proves the job.

A Note about Conversions

A CRITICAL outcome of the job analysis process is the necessity to correct the inappropriate exemption of jobs from coverage by Civil Service (CS). The conversions process has proven to be extremely complex (e.g. Fair Labor Standards Act [FLSA], immigra­tion, seniority, work hours, etc.); and while many of the issues raised have workable solutions, there are many in­stances where we continue to look for answers. One issue worth highlighting deals with visas. UIC hires many foreign nationals via the various visa programs. When conversions are required, these cases can be very complex, are considered carefully and reviewed individu­ally. Please be mindful of material changes that may have occurred in an employee’s job duties. This type of change may impact an employee’s ability to retain a visa. If you have any questions, please notify HR and the Of­fice of International Services (OIS) immediately.

IN THE meantime, if there additional questions about job analysis or conversions processes overall, please contact the HR Office at http://www.uic.edu/depts/hr/index.shtml