Glossary of Human Resources Terms
A | B | C | D | E |F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
Abolish a Position | To permanently inactivate a position so that it cannot be used/filled again.
Academic Personnel Office (APO) | The Academic Personnel Office, which oversees most human resources needs for EHRA faculty employees. APO is part of the Provost’s Office.
Advanced Level | SHRA competencies required in a position include the highest or broadest scope of knowledge, skills and abilities. Applies to SHRA positions. Positions at this level have the most complex work and the broadest scope within a given title, i.e., “senior level”. (See also Contributing level and Journey level.)
Affiliate | An Affiliate is commonly an unpaid volunteer, intern or visiting scholar, research collaborator or contractor that is engaged with UNC-Chapel Hill in support of the University’s mission of teaching, research, and public service. More broadly, an affiliate is anyone who is not paid through UNC-Chapel Hill payroll and is not attending UNC-Chapel Hill, but requires University resources to work in conjunction with a UNC-Chapel Hill school/division.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accommodation | Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is part of a federal law that prohibits discrimination against someone with a disability, defined as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” The Equal Opportunity & Compliance Office oversees the University’s ADA Reasonable Accommodations in Employment Policy, which is the policy that outlines requirements for disability accommodations and how to request accommodations for employees and applicants for employment.
Annual Raise Process (ARP) | The Annual Raise Process, the procedure that distributes legislative or discretionary increases to EHRA employees.
B
Board of Governors (BOG) | The UNC Board of Governors. The University of North Carolina System is governed by the Board of Governors, which under Chapter 116 of the North Carolina General Statutes has responsibility for the planning, development, and overall governance of the UNC System.
Board of Trustees (BOT) | The UNC Board of Trustees. According to The UNC Code, UNC shall have a board of trustees composed of thirteen persons: eight are elected by the UNC Board of Governors, four are appointed by the NC General Assembly, and the remaining member is the president of the student government, ex officio. The Board of Trustees shall promote the sound development of its institution within the functions prescribed for it, helping it to serve the people of the state in a way that will complement the activities of the other institutions and aiding it to perform at a high level of excellence in every area of endeavor.
Branch | A job that is part of a major grouping of jobs that represent general fields of work where career paths are identified and career planning is emphasized. Applies to SHRA positions. This is a particular field of work within a job family. Examples include the Technology Support branch in the IT job family and the Accounting branch in the Administrative and Managerial job family. (See also Role.)
C
Career Banding | The University System classification and compensation system for SHRA employees. It is a pay structure that exchanges a large number of narrow salary ranges for a smaller number of broader salary ranges. This type of pay structure encourages the development of broad employee skills and growth.
Compensatory (Comp) Time | Given in lieu of overtime pay at management discretion; non-exempt employees earn 1.5 hours of comp time for each hour worked over 40 in a work week. Comp time should be used before any other type of accrued leave; if it is not used within one year of being earned, it is paid out.
Competency Profile | A set of knowledge, skills and abilities required of the position based on business needs as determined by the manager. It can be contributing, journey, or advanced and applies to SHRA positions. A generalized description of the work, required competencies, and minimum recruitment standards for a particular SHRA career-banded job title. These are provided by the Office of State Human Resources.
ConnectCarolina | The University’s system of record for student, finance, and human resources information. ConnectCarolina also offers self-service functions for viewing your paystub, training registration, benefits enrollment, and more.
Contributing Level | SHRA competencies required in a position include knowledge, skills and abilities minimally necessary to perform a job from entry to journey. Applies to SHRA positions. Positions at this level are the entry-level jobs in a given title. (See also Journey level and Advanced level.)
Conversion | A position changing from SHRA to EHRA or vice versa.
E
Educational Requirements | The education level which employees must possess in order to successfully perform job functions which are essential to business operations.
Employee Competency Assessment (ECA) | An Employee Competency Assessment is for SHRA employees, and is how the supervisor evaluates the demonstrated competencies against the required competencies of the position. This is done in conjunction with the performance management process each spring and at other times as may be required. There are three rating options: developing, applied, and broadly demonstrated.
ePAR | Electronic Personnel Action Request. This is an action created in ConnectCarolina’s HR Workcenter; such as adding a new position, updating an existing position, new hires, lump sum payments, job data changes, etc. Only employees who have been granted administrative access in ConnectCarolina may initiate or approve ePARs.
Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office (EOC) | The Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office at the University provides leadership and guidance in support of the University’s commitment to equal opportunity, affirmative action, and diversity. The EOC Office is separate from the Office of Human Resources, but the two organizations work closely together to promote equity and fairness for employees.
Essential Qualifications and Experience | The skills, knowledge and abilities which employees must possess in order to successfully perform job functions which are essential to business operations.
Exempt from the Human Resources Act (EHRA) | Employees who are Exempt from the (State) Human Resources Act. These employees are members of one (or both) of the following groups: EHRA Faculty (professors, assistant professors, etc.) and EHRA Non-Faculty (including Senior Academic and Administrative Officers, research, and instructional employees). Policies are administered by the UNC System Board of Governors.
F
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) | The Fair Labor Standards Act is a federal law that governs the way SHRA employees are paid for work – either on an hourly or salaried basis. The FLSA divides positions into two groups based on the duties of their jobs – those that are exempt from the act (salaried, do not earn overtime), and those that are non-exempt (hourly paid, earn overtime if worked). EHRA Non-Faculty employees are exempt and SHRA employees may be either exempt or non-exempt based on their duties.
Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) | Full-Time Equivalent. FTE is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person in a way that makes workloads comparable across various contexts. An FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to a full-time worker and represents a primary schedule of 40 hours per week, while an FTE of 0.5 signals half of a full workload.
H
Head Count | The number of employees that hold a certain position. A head count of zero means that a position is vacant.
Hiring Supervisor | AKA Hiring Manager. The supervisor of the position.
HR Rep | The Human Resources Representative, which is a name for an HR contact within a department who generally has direct contact with the employees.
Human Resources Officer (HRO) | The Human Resources Officer, which is the head Human Resources position for a school or division.
I
Instructional, Research, and Information Technology (IRIT) | Instructional, Research and Information Technology, which is a classification of EHRA non-faculty employees. These positions deliver the core-mission activities of the University: creating and disseminating knowledge through direct instruction, research, and public service; or performing professional-level duties that are integral to and uniquely supportive of that work. The purpose of each such position must be substantially engaged in the regular academic, educational, research, or public-service/extension activities of the University. The majority of EHRA-NF positions are in this classification.
J
Journey Level | SHRA competencies required in a position represent a fully-applied body of knowledge, skills and abilities. Applies to SHRA positions. Positions at this level are fully functioning within a job title and have broader duties, greater scope, and more complexity than the Contributing level. (See also Contributing level and Advanced level.)
L
Legislative State Increase (LSI) | Legislative State Increase, a salary increase that may be granted by the NC General Assembly to all state employees. In years where an LSI is granted, eligibility requirements and effective dates may vary year to year based on legislative rulings.
M
Market Rate | Average pay rate as determined by the Office of State Human Resources when comparing benchmark jobs to relevant local, state or national organizations that recruit and hire employees with the same or similar competencies. Rates are determined for each competency level (contributing, journey and advanced). For EHRA positions see the reference rate definition.
Minimum Recruitment Standards | The minimum qualifications required by the State for an appointment to a given classification. These include the required “knowledge, skills and abilities,” “minimum training and experience” plus any other special requirements such as certificates and licenses. These are required to qualify the applicant for the minimum and, if applicable, the special minimum rate.
O
Office of Human Resources (OHR) | The Office of Human Resources, which is the central office that oversees all of the human resources needs for the SHRA and EHRA Non-Faculty employees. OHR also oversees the benefits needs for Faculty employees as well. OHR is part of the division of Workforce Strategy, Equity, and Engagement.
Office of State Human Resources (OSHR) | The Office of State Human Resources, an agency that oversees personnel policies and programs for SHRA employees throughout the state. The Office of Human Resources at the University is granted delegated authority by OSHR to administer many of these policies.
Organizational Unit | Description of the unit where the work will be performed.
Overlap Position | A position that is created for an employee who is leaving but who will remain in the department temporarily while the new employee starts in that position permanently.
P
PeopleAdmin | The recruitment system used for temporary (SHRA, EHRA Non-Faculty, Visiting/Part-time Faculty) and permanent EHRA Non-Faculty job postings.
Position Competency Level | Is the level of contributing, journey, or advanced and applies to SHRA positions. See competency profile definition for more information.
Position Description (PD) | A written statement that explains the responsibilities and qualifications of a given job. The job description includes specific required tasks as well as an overview of the position and whom the employee reports to.
Preferred Qualifications and Experience | Skills, knowledge and abilities which employers would like for a candidate to have which may be beneficial to business operations but are not required to perform the duties of the position.
Principal Functions | Description of the principal duties and responsibilities of a position, with associated percentages.
R
Rainbow Form | The Salary Adjustment Request form, more colloquially known as the Rainbow Form. This is a document used to justify a salary increase for permanent employees and postdocs.
Reclassification | A position reclassification is the assignment of a new salary band, branch, or role. A reclassification may be due to the position duties and responsibilities changing substantially due to changes in organization, work, staffing requirements, etc. For SHRA positions, also referred to as reallocation.
Reference Rate | Typically the 75th percentile of the market for similar positions in that EHRA job family band. This may be interchangeably referred to as the market rate.
Role | Various SHRA classifications that have been banded together due to similarities in position attributes, nature and scope of the work, and competencies required to meet business needs. Applies to SHRA positions. The role describes a level of work within a branch. For instance, within the Technology Support branch, there are Technician, Analyst, and Specialist roles. (See also Branch.)
S
Salary Structure | The EHRA Non-Faculty salary structure is a formal compensation document that details all of the different job families and their associated salary band minimums, reference rates, and maximums. The compensation program is part of the University’s commitment to offer fair, equitable, competitive compensation considering the scope of job responsibilities, relevant experience, employee’s performance against job expectations, appropriate compensation comparison markets, and available budgetary resources.
Senior Academic and Administrative Officer (SAAO) | Senior Academic and Administrative Officer, which is a classification of EHRA non-faculty employees. These are separated into SAAO Tier I and SAAO Tier II positions. Some examples of SAAO positions are: the chancellor, vice chancellors, provost, deans, associate and assistant vice chancellors, associate and assistant deans, communications and marketing directors, fundraising and development officers, and the directors of major administrative, educational, research and public services activities of the University designated by the Board of Governors.
Subcategories | EHRA non-faculty IRIT positions are separated into approximately 20 different subcategories. These subcategories include general statements of on-going job responsibilities of those positions as well as the minimum education and experience or where specific degrees/certification/licensure is required. Every EHRA-NF IRIT position must fall within one of those subcategories.
Subject to the Human Resources Act (SHRA) | Employees who are Subject to the Human Resources Act, commonly known as “staff” employees. Policies are administered by the Office of State Human Resources (OSHR).
T
Term Appointment | EHRA permanent employees with a set expected end date of their appointment. These are generally only coaches or librarians, other term appointments must be specially requested from the Office of Human Resources EHRA Non-Faculty Unit.
Time-Limited | SHRA positions that are most often used when there are soft monies or grant monies to fund a position where there are no guarantees in the continuance of the funding source. Additionally, time-limited positions are frequently used when there is a project with a defined end date within three years. Employees with a time-limited appointment receive leave, total state service credit, retirement and health benefits. However, upon separation, time-limited employees are not eligible for severance pay, priority re-employment, or health insurance continuation. Time-limited positions can be filled by more than one employee, but if an employee is retained in a time-limited position beyond three years, the employee and position must become permanent.
Transfer a Position | When a position is transferred from one department to another. The home department originates the action.
U
UNC System Office | The UNC System Office, also known as SO, which oversees all the constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina system. The UNC System Office is located just off campus in Chapel Hill.
University Temporary Services (UTS) | University Temporary Services is the in-house temporary staffing service through North Carolina State University, who partnered with UNC Chapel Hill to create another UTS location to serve the Carolina campus community. UTS provides cost-effective, qualified temporary personnel in a wide variety of occupations to meet the staffing needs throughout campus.
W
Work Week | A period of 168 consecutive hours used as the base for overtime calculation. The University’s standard work week is 12:00 am Monday through 11:59 pm Sunday.
Working Title | A job title that can describe the responsibilities of the position, the level of the job, or both. The working title is used in the campus directory and is assigned to a specific position to describe that specific role. It is also used in postings for vacancies.