The Titles work team analyzed the current configuration of titles and levels at the University and recommended strategies for job classification in the future. The team considered the purpose and use of titles as well as the relationships between titles and levels.

• UW-Madison should develop a job classification system with consistent design principles across current employee categories (level of detail in title descriptions, consistency in terminology, common definitions).
• Maintaining one broad title for Student Hourly employees is sufficient, and working titles should continue to be used to describe particular activities or responsibilities of these employees.
• In a new system, Titles should be defined broadly enough to facilitate employee movement and progression. Titles should be defined with general, illustrative activities and responsibilities. Specific position descriptions can further define particular tasks and responsibilities.
• UW-Madison should develop a consistent approach to creating levels for titles to be applied across all non-faculty jobs. This does not necessarily mean all jobs would have levels or the same number of levels, but that there would be a process for creating levels as the need arises.
• Titles and levels should focus on job content and the experience, skills, knowledge and qualifications required to perform the job. Length of satisfactory service alone without a concurrent shift in scope or responsibilities should not drive a change in title or level. Compensation should provide mechanisms for expanded responsibilities and performance that does not meet the threshold for a new title or level.
• The team recommends the simplification and consolidation of titles where jobs are substantially similar, even if those jobs cross current and future employee categories.
• The University should perform a job classification study structured around functional areas (“job families”), not existing employee categories. The study should include current Classified Staff, Academic Staff, Student Assistants, and Employees-in-Training. A job classification study would involve talking to both employees and managers about the types of work done by specific people in departments across the whole University. The study would produce updated definitions of jobs on campus, new titles, and recommendations for assigning current jobs to the new structure.
• Processes, roles, and responsibilities related to job classification should be clearly defined and communicated.