The college strives to deliver a total compensation package that is relevant and reflective of our industry, and enables us to attract, motivate and retain talented staff for successful careers at CCA. We aspire to an equitable, innovative, valuable, clear and progressive process around compensation, that is within the college’s available resources and with alignment of the college’s mission and values.

We hope that our strengthened compensation philosophy, policy, and practices can provide staff with clarity and an outline around compensation. Please refer below to a summary of our compensation model. For a full version of the policy, including answers to the questions below, please click here.

Compensation management is a critical tool used by human resources; it plays an important role in the sustainability of the college by supporting the income and livelihood of employees and aligning with the college budget. Compensation decisions may be adjusted according business need, college goals and priorities and available resources.

Compensation practices may be used to:

• Recruit and retain qualified employees
• Increase or maintain morale/satisfaction
• Reward and encourage peak performance
• Achieve internal and external equity
• Reduce turnover and encourage loyalty
• Provide understanding, awareness and appreciation

Compensation components:

• Philosophy: How we see compensation as an important factor in retention and value.
• Policy: How our compensation plan is administered and standardized. Compensation decisions will be made in alignment with the practices outlined in the policy to ensure equity and clarity. This includes how and when increases would occur, how we address outliers and how promotions are handled.
• Practices: Pay increases are dependent on the overall financial health of the college and can occur through market adjustments, promotion to vacant positions at an elevated level, and with the start of fiscal year.
• Process: HR utilizes a compensation tool, Payscale, to conduct a market analysis for similar positions, with consideration of competitive factors such as industry and location. A job is reviewed for leveling based on an internal rubric.

What compensation components help answer:

1. How is compensation used?
2. What are the components of a compensation structure?
3. When do compensation increases take place during the year?
4. How does the college ensure pay equity?
5. How does the college ensure ethical decisions around compensation?
6. How does the college compete with other employers in the market?

How we got here:

We have updated our existing compensation structure and worked with a compensation consultant through Payscale to strengthen our practices.