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Faculty salary equity: Issues and options

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Abstract

How do you develop a salary equity analysis procedure that will help identify whether or not your institution has a reasonably equitable and legally defensible salary structure? This paper presents a multiphase approach to identify and correct salary inequities based on gender. The major steps are to (1) determine if a problem situation exists by using a conceptually sound, objective procedure that does a legal and effective job of explaining faculty salaries; (2) develop feasible adjustment strategies if inequities exist that solve or improve the situation; (3) implement the correction and establish a monitoring process that is consistent with the culture and values of the institution. Involving and educating key university personnel in the selection of models and strategies is critical to acceptance and validation of the process and to minimizing negative reaction internal or external to the campus. This paper is designed to be helpful to administrators and researchers who need to make informed choices about salary equity models and implementation strategies.

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Snyder, J.K., Hyer, P.B. & McLaughlin, G.W. Faculty salary equity: Issues and options. Res High Educ 35, 1–19 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02496659

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