University of Idaho Vice President for Finance Brian Foisy and Wesley Matthews, the recently-hired Director of Human Resources, have a history – years working together at their previous university.
Foisy came to UI at the beginning of this academic year from Minot State University in Minot, North Dakota, where Matthews has been the HR director for 16 years.
Matthews
“Prior to that, he had experience in HR management in the Air Force for 11 years,” Foisy said. “He”s a seasoned professional.”
Matthews will begin work at UI May 23.
Foisy said when former UI HR Director Greg Walters announced he was vacating the position, Foisy put together the usual search committee. He wrote a job description and told the committee the responsibilities and qualifications he was looking for – but in addition to the usual information, Foisy had two more criteria for UI”s new head of HR.
“I needed them to be an expert in the concept of market-based compensation,” Foisy said.
He said he also needed “someone with demonstrated commitment to employee advocacy.”
Foisy said a market-based compensation system, which has been a topic of continued discussion within the UI Division of Finance, differs from the current model UI employs, which compensates staff and faculty based on a classification system.
The idea behind this type of system, Foisy said, is that every job at the university is put into one of 12 categories associated with a single salary.
He said while he doesn”t believe the system is necessarily broken, he believes it can be done better.
“I am being very candid,” he said. “There are people who felt it is not as collaborative as it could have been.”
Collaboration is one thing Foisy emphasizes when it comes to compensation. With the current compensation system, Foisy said he and other administrators, including UI President Chuck Staben, felt it was time for change.
Foisy said ultimately, a market-based compensation system, which compensates employees based on what employees of peer institutions in comparable positions are paid, was the direction they decided to take the university. With such a system, Foisy said the university will be able to remain competitive in the current market.
And that, he said, is where Matthews comes into the picture.
“I have worked with market-based compensation for 16 years at Minot State,” Matthews said. “What we”ve done is we started putting parameters in it. Nobody should be paid less that 85 percent of the average market rate.”
Matthews said of the 16 years he has worked with a market-based compensation system, the last 11 years have been a period where things have been working exceptionally. He said he feels the system has brought more dedicated, skilled and happier employees to Minot State.
“It”s about bringing more math into the equation, so you know you have a fairer system,” Matthews said.
He said education, experience and length of employment are all considerations, which he said he feels gives everyone at the university the opportunity to receive fair pay for their contribution to the university.
Foisy said that also goes back to his aspirations of higher levels of collaboration. He said he and Matthews agree that if an employee has a problem, HR should be a place where they can voice their concerns, be informed and given options – and he said he believes Matthews is the man who can make that vision a reality.
Kevin Neighbors can be reached at [email protected]