ATLANTA – With their inclusion of a commitment to provide fair compensation for all employees in “Engaging a Wider World,” Agnes Scott’s strategic plan for 2014, the board of trustees reaffirmed the college’s mission to living honorably.
“The board sees the college as a ‘living laboratory’ as we work out how we can live honorably on a number of fronts,” said Agnes Scott President Elizabeth Kiss. “Chief among these is providing a living wage for all employees.”
The living wage policy adopted by the board uses the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual determination of fair monthly market rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the 24-county Atlanta market.
The college has committed, if resources permit, to provide the college’s lowest-paid hourly and monthly staff a supplemental increase annually over and above other annual increases over four years in order to achieve, by 2011, the current HUD-based standard. The policy will be reassessed in 2011, and the college will develop a new supplemental increase plan in order to achieve the 2014 HUD-based standard by 2014. These increases will be supplemented with length-of-service salary increases, which become a permanent part of the salary. For all employees, salary compression issues resulting from these changes will be reviewed.
College administrators are working now to fit living wage dollars into the annual budget.
“The college also has many other, worthy demands, all of which must be factored into an already tight budget,” explained Kiss. “Among these are hiring and retaining a highly-qualified faculty; implementing a financial aid policy that is among the most generous in the country; providing technology resources; maintaining the physical aspect of the campus; preparing students, faculty and staff for a crisis should one occur and providing resources in places such as the library and science facilities.”
Additional opportunities for staff are being enacted. Last year, 10-month workers were offered summer employment, and the 17 who accepted received computer training in order to enlarge the scope of their summer work.
In order to give a voice to all staff, formation of a staff senate is underway. At the suggestion of an alumna, and with her help, the college is facilitating free tax assistance for employees who are eligible for earned income, childcare or education credits.
“We are pleased to offer this service,” said Kiss. “This is a practical way we can be of assistance. And, it shows alumnae involvement and creativity to helping others.”
Kiss noted that the living wage commitment is based on work begun during the Mary Brown Bullock administration. Since discussions began in 2000 between a faculty member and the human resources director, numerous educational opportunities and awareness events have been held, and the minimum wage has increased twice. An active living wage campaign, driven by faculty and students, keeps this issue at the forefront.
Of seven peer Atlanta-area institutions, three have living wage campaigns. Agnes Scott is number two after Columbia Seminary in providing the largest entry-level hourly wage. All Agnes Scott employees received the same benefits – access to healthcare benefits; Social Security benefits; college contribution to retirement plan; paid holidays, personal days, vacation and sick leave; educational and domestic partner benefits.
“I am so happy we took this significant step forward as a community, putting real resources behind our commitment to living honorably and affirming a clear wage benchmark in line with the universal living wage campaign recommendation,” said Kiss. “I realize this is not as much or as fast as the living wage campaign would have hoped, but it is an ambitious commitment.
“As president, I need to ensure we are making progress on multiple fronts, which often means our progress on any one front has to be more incremental than we would want it to be in a perfect world. This is not to say we are where we want to be – we are committed to raising the floor.”
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