Office of Origin: Human Resources
Responsibility: Executive Director, HR
Original Date Adopted: 5/20/25
Dates Reviewed: 5/20/25
Last Date Board Approved: 5/20/25

Lake Michigan College (the “College”) is committed to ensuring that employees receive fair compensation that attracts and retains a highly qualified, high performing workforce. The College is also committed to upholding the principle of internal equity.

This policy applies only to employees who are not covered by a union collective bargaining agreement or whose wages are not entirely funded by a grant. Pay for union employees must be administered in accordance with their respective bargaining agreements, and grant-funded employees’ pay must adhere to the parameters of the grant’s budget.

Position Grades
The College uses the Decision Band Method (“DBM”) of position grading, which is a structured approach that evaluates jobs based on the level and complexity of decision-making required, the supervisory responsibility, and the difficulty of duties performed. It categorizes positions into grades comprised of Decision Band / Grade Level / Subgrade, as follows:

1. Decision Bands from A – F. The Band corresponds the degree of autonomy in the position, its scope of responsibilities, the type of decisions made, and their impact on the organization,
2. Grade Levels of either a 1 or a 2. A Grade Level of 2 indicates that the position supervises more than one position in the same Band, and
3. Subgrades of 1-4, which reflects the degree of difficulty of the decision-making and duty requirements of the job.

Key points of DBM are that:

• Only work content is considered.
• Factors unrelated to work are not included in the evaluation of a job and establishing its DBM grade.
• Working and labor market conditions are treated separately.

The DBM method ensures consistency, transparency, and objectivity in job evaluation by aligning roles with their actual responsibilities rather than focusing solely on traditional factors such as job titles and reporting structures.

Compensation Philosophy

The College intends to conduct a survey-based compensation study every 3-5 years; alternatively, a pay scale “infusion” may be done if the College determines it is best to delay a compensation study for a period of time.

Pay ranges are established to reflect the minimum of the surveyed market rates, the median, and the maximum.

The College intends to pay employees within their assigned job grade, as appropriate, commensurate with their experience and credentials compared to the minimum required for a specific position. In no case will the College pay less than the minimum of a DBM pay range for a job. In some instances, extensive experience, unique qualification requirements, or market influence related to proven difficult-to-fill positions may result in a higher pay rate than usual.

All employees in the same DBM grade should be paid similarly. Therefore, in the interest of internal equity, others' wages, and years of experience within the same DBM grade and, to a lesser degree, similar DBM grades, affect individual pay-setting decisions.

New Hire/Initial Pay Setting

The pay rate for a new hire will normally fall between the established minimum rate and the midpoint rate for the job grade. The rate of pay shown in job postings will normally reflect this same range. Where a pay rate is established within a range is dependent on the following:

• If the new hire does meet the job qualification requirements, their initial pay rate will normally fall between the minimum and midpoint rate of the pay range for the position’s DBM grade. A new hire’s rate will depend upon on their qualifications for the position’s relevant skills, educational attainment, certifications, and years of experience, while ensuring equity within the department and like positions.
• If a new hire does not meet the job qualification requirements, their initial pay rate will normally be placed at the minimum rate of the pay range. However, new hires with significant related skill sets may be placed between the minimum and the midpoint rate with approval by the Executive Director of Human Resources (HR) and the President.
• An initial pay rate for a new hire will rarely exceed the midpoint rate of the pay range. Pay rates above the midpoint rate are normally for those with extensive experience, unique qualifications, or for positions that have proven difficult to fill. Pay rates above the midpoint rate must be requested by the supervising Cabinet member and require approval by both the Executive Director of HR and the President.
• To ensure internal equity, a new hire’s pay rate will not normally exceed the rate of an existing employee in the same or notably similar position with similar qualifications. However, significant differences in qualifications may result in a new hire pay rate which exceeds those of existing employees.
• All pay related decisions for grant-funded positions are dependent on available grant funding, and all pay related decision for union employees must be administered in accordance with their respective bargaining agreements.

Promotions
To ensure internal equity, a promoted employee’s new pay rate will not normally exceed the rate of an existing employee in the same position or, if appropriate, in the same DBM grade with similar job qualifications. However, significant differences in qualifications may result in a new pay rate that exceeds those of employees with similar experience.

The new pay is either with the noted percentage increase or to the minimum rate of the new pay range, whichever is greater.

• If an employee is promoted to the next DBM grade (e.g., C11 to C12) and meets the new position’s qualification requirements, they will normally receive a 6% pay increase.
• For a promotion to a position two or more DBM grades above their current DBM grade (e.g., C11 to C14) where the employee meets the new position’s qualification requirements, an employee will normally receive a 9-12% increase dependent on their qualifications and experience in relation to those required for the new position.
• Employees considered to be highly skilled/experienced relative to the job qualifications may receive a greater increase, generally not to exceed 12%.
• If a promoted employee does not meet the new position’s job qualification requirements, their new pay rate will normally be set at the minimum rate of the new pay range.

In all cases, the pay may not exceed the maximum rate of the new pay range.

Position Changes to a Lower Graded Position – Voluntary & Involuntary
The pay rate for an employee voluntarily moving to a lower DBM grade position will be based upon the new job qualification requirements, as listed above, and will not exceed the maximum rate of their new pay grade.

The pay rate for an employee involuntarily moved to a lower DBM grade position (that is not based on performance) will generally remain at the employee’s current pay rate, unless their current pay rate exceeds the maximum rate for the pay range of their new DBM grade. In this instance, the employee’s new pay rate will be set at the maximum rate of their new pay range.

Interim / Vacancy Assistance
Employees who assume additional duties due to a temporary vacancy will normally be paid as follows.

• Additional job duties for a vacancy within the same position will not normally result in a pay increase.
• Maintaining their original workload plus a significant share of a vacant position's workload will normally resulting in a 5% increase. If the vacant position is a higher DBM grade, the increase will normally be 5%-10%.
• Maintaining their original workload plus the vacant position’s workload will normally result in a 5%-10% pay increase. If the vacant position is a higher DBM grade, the increase will normally be 10%.

The complexity and responsibility/decision-making applicable to the additional duties will determine the actual amount of increase.

All such pay increases are temporary until the vacancy is filled.

Project Work
Employees who assume sole responsibility for or provide a major contribution to projects or assignments of significant importance beyond scope of normal duties may receive additional pay for those efforts in the form of a stipend.

Requests must be made by the supervising Cabinet member through the myLMC Supplemental Contract (SCON) workflow. Requests must document specific duties performed, hours of work, completion date and impact of the project or assignment. The Executive Director of HR will then determine the stipend amount based on the following criteria:

• The time and effort required, which must be outside of the employee's regular duties.
• The scope and impact of the project or assignment, which must be significant to the College.

In determining stipends, the Executive Director of HR will ensure that awards are equitable and consistent across projects and assignments of a similar scope and significance, considering the effort and responsibility involved.

Stipends may not exceed more than 1% of an employee’s annual pay without approval of the President.

Supervisory Responsibilities
In DBM, supervision of lower Decision Bands is already taken into consideration in the grades. However, those positions that supervise one or more employees within the same Decision Band are compensated as follows:

• Employees that supervise one employee in the same Decision Band will normally be increased by 3%.
• Employees that supervisor two or more employees in the same DBM Decision Band are placed in the next Grade Level pay range to reflect the added complexity of personnel management.

Employees who are assigned to supervise another department will have their job description revised and reviewed by HR to determine if the addition of the department changes the position’s DBM grade. If supervision of the department does not change the DBM grade, the supervisor will normally have their pay increased by 3%.

Exceeding the Maximum Pay Rate
At the time of an across-the-board pay increase, if an employee’s current pay rate exceeds the maximum pay rate on the DBM grade on the pay scale, no across-the-board pay increase will be given to the employee until their pay falls below the maximum rate. This applies to all pay rate adjustments related to the above scenarios as well as across-the-board pay increases.

Wage Review – Ad Hoc
Outside of periodic compensation studies that the College will undertake to address market competitiveness, wage reviews may be conducted on an ad hoc basis in exceptional circumstances only, such as:   

• Significant market wage increases in a particular job field.
• Significant organizational changes.
• Significant changes in job duties that warrant an updated job description (impacting 20% or more of effort or work time).
• Obtaining a new degree/certification designated by the College as specifically related to performance of the essential functions of a current position.

To initiate the review, employees must submit documentation through the GAPP form at mylmc.org; instructions can be found on the HR subsite of the Employee Portal. All submissions require approval of the supervising Cabinet member before the review will be completed by HR. HR will then follow a standard review procedure outlined above to assess the request and determine if a grade or wage change is warranted. Any wage adjustment will be made with the College’s budgetary limits and financial responsibilities in mind.

Internal Equity within Job Grades
HR will periodically assess pay rates by Position and Job Grade to address internal equity and consistency. Pay rates will be evaluated in relation to the established pay range for the Position and Job Grade coupled with the gender, relevant skills, educational attainment, certifications, and years of experience of the employees in that Position and Job Grade at that time. If determined that an employee is not paid consistently with others in their Job Grade, an adjustment will be made to bring pay to within established parameter.

Effective Date of Pay Changes
All pay changes will take effect at the beginning of the next pay period following official approval of the change.

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