Salary steps are incremental salary increases based on years of experience, years of service or qualified previous employment and are commonly used in education as recognition that an employee gains experience after each year on the job. Harford Community College faculty had salary steps in order to maintain equitable salaries that progressed with both inflation and professional advancement, but we were asked to give them up to assist the college in a time of financial stress. The resulting salary structure, built around salary ranges, is neither clear nor equitable.
According to the HCC Strategic Plan, the college should maintain “an organizational culture that attracts, retains, nurtures, and rewards top talent.” A competitive salary with earnable steps is essential for the college to continue to attract the best faculty. Since nearby comparable institutions, like CCBC, offer salary steps, HCC must also do so in order to retain and support excellent instructors, especially in a high cost of living area like Harford County, or continue to risk losing talent to these colleges. In addition, to meet our appropriately ambitious student achievement goals, the college must invest robustly in quality instruction, which means investing in those who teach.
We, the undersigned, are asking the college to work with the union to craft a salary scale that includes salary steps to address these issues and makes HCC a destination college, retaining faculty for the duration of their careers and allowing them the financial resources to live in the community where they work.