How the Colorado School of Mines approaches compensation and total rewards

Brandy Malatesta

Director, Total Rewards, Colorado School of Mines

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of EAB. 

The Colorado School of Mines (Mines) is a public R-1 research university focused on applied science and engineering. Mines is fortunate to have a healthy enrollment and provide a high return on value to graduates. The vision to be the premier institution for engineering and science drives the total compensation strategy.

Mines has competitive and robust compensation and benefits offerings that can be quite overwhelming to navigate. The total rewards team has recently noticed increased instances of frustration when it comes to total rewards.

For example, Mines has multiple leave options including vacation, sick, parental, medical disability, and Colorado Paid Family Medical Leave effective January 1, 2024. As you can imagine, the coordination of these benefits is difficult to navigate, especially in times of stress. There have been recent instances surrounding the confusion of post-doc benefits due to how the contracts are written, or if they are switching from a graduate assistant with student health benefits to a postdoc with employee health benefits.

Mines could offer the best total compensation package in the industry, but if faculty and staff aren’t aware of its value or are frustrated when it comes to using the benefits, it will not lead to recruitment and retention efforts.

The Mines’ compensation philosophy provides four guiding principles that have been developed into strategy: market competitive pay, pay program equity, program flexibility, and transparency and communication. With each strategy, the team thinks of how the strategy is accomplished in a way that creates a better total rewards experience.

In May 2023 Mines went through an audit of benchmarks to ensure R-1 institutions were represented, and in February 2023, Mines conducted a pay equity study with a third-party vendor. When looking at the EAB white paper “Recruitment Strategies to Win Over Top External Talent” it really stuck out how Mines is transforming the total rewards experience to meet the needs of an ever-evolving workforce spanning multiple generations at one time. Each generation has different expectations, and that is where program flexibility really comes into play.

Mines retains the defined benefit for those who qualify, but for those who don’t, there is the defined contribution plan. Over the last year, vesting was changed to day one with more portability, and that is with the 12% employer contribution. The current recordkeeper was also renewed with 24 education days to provide more education to our population.

Focus has been placed on building trust and credibility so total rewards is a collaborative partner aiding in providing transparent and effective communication. There is direct access to the executive team with invitations to the ACE council and the faculty senate. Monthly meetings with the provost and deans ensure that the lines of communication are left open and that everyone is on the same page.

With the confusion surrounding benefits, in August 2023 dedicated office hours were implemented and 60+ one one-on-one meetings have been held. Workday went live on July 1, 2023 where for the first time, employees are seeing in plain sight their job titles and pay ranges.

On the horizon we look forward to building total rewards dashboards, consistent compensation guidance, and a dedicated postdoc page for benefits.

Coming from the business affairs side, I’ve learned a lot from the Fellowship sessions on the future of enrollment, the importance of the student experience, and the evolving landscape of higher education. Total rewards works with all areas of campus routinely but now has a specific desire to know their strategic direction and what their needs will be three to five years from now so total rewards is prepared.