Merit Tool User Instructions Table of Contents Description Page Overview 2 Guidelines 3 Enabling Macro 4 Worksheet Tab 5 Adjustment Name Tab 6-8 Base Adjustment Proposal Tab 8 Scorecard Tab 8 1
Overview The Merit Tool (excel workbook compatible with Excel version 2007 and higher) is designed to help you recommend FY2015 M&P merit increases, lump-sum (non-base building merit) payments, and base adjustments for internal and external equity. In addition, you may find it helpful for modeling different scenarios for each M&P employee as well as for reviewing the M&P salary structure of your entire department/organization. Each unit will be responsible for completing the Merit Tool after all FOCUS performance reviews have been prepared. You will be notified of due dates in a separate communication. Guidelines for merit increase, base adjustment and lump-sum payment are built into the Worksheet. These recommendations are a starting point and you should use them as simply that. Properly managing salary requires much more than a simple formula. You will notice that if you recommend an amount or type of increase or your performance distribution is outside the normal range, the cells will change color, red for over and yellow for under guideline. These colors are to help you manage the process and should not be considered wrong or unacceptable but rather simply highlighting where the recommendations are outside the standard guideline. There is no guideline for base adjustment as it is based on manager s discretion and internal and external equity. Suggested Process for Salary Increase Recommendations: Step 1: Review department population and enter Status Code. Step 2: Enter Performance Ratings Step 3: Review suggested Merit Increase and adjust as necessary. See instruction under the Worksheet Tab. Step 4: If you recommend a Base Adjustment, create individual Base Adjustment Proposal tabs. See instruction under the Adj Name Tab. Step 5: Submit Merit Tool and Base Adjustment Proposal tabs to BOLT and Human Resources for approval and BMS Merit input via Yale s Secure File Transfer Service. BMS (Business Management System) Merit system captures merit data for individual employees, produces summary reports, and updates Oracle for September payroll. When sharing files with your manager/submitting results to HR, to ensure secure transfer of employee data, please access Yale s Secure File Transfer Service via https://files.yale.edu/ Contacts for Questions: Compensation@yale.edu 2
Guidelines The following table defines status codes that you will input in Column H on the Worksheet Tab. If you leave it blank, it will default to Eligible for Merit and Rating Required Status Code Description Eligible for Merit Rating Required Note S Salary Yes Yes BMS auto populates when merit $ or % is added. 0 No Increase Yes Yes No increase for performance reasons. Requires comment. I Ineligible No Yes Employees who are on layoff notice/status. L Leaving No Yes Employees who are leaving before merit payout. X Other Reasons No Yes Employees promoted/transferred/reclassified prior to merit & received merit as part of the transition. N New Hire No No BMS auto populates for new hires after 4/1/2014. Yes Yes Default if status not entered in BMS. Please note that N and blank only come from initial BMS download and would not be provided as an option. The following table shows the guidelines for performance appraisal rating distribution and merit increase: Performance Guideline Base Merit Above Max Middle Description Rating % 1st Qtile Qtiles Top Qtile Lump Sum Exceptional 4 15% 4% - 5% 3% - 4% 2.5% - 3.5% 2% - 3% Met/Exceeded 3 80% 3% - 4% 2% - 3% 1.5% - 2.5% 1% - 2% Needs Improvement 2 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% Unsatisfactory 1 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% Too New to Rate 0 NA Additional guidelines on how to manage salary and merit process can be found in separate communications from your Lead Administrators and Human Resources. 3
Enabling Marco Step 1: Excel 2010: Click on File Options Excel 2007: Click on Window Excel Options Step 2: Click on Trust Center Trust Center Settings Step 3: Click on Macro Settings, choose Enable all and Trust access... Step 4: Click OK and close Excel Options dialogue box. 4
Worksheet Tab Dashboard (rows 1-7): Helps you to monitor your proposals against the merit guideline. Data fields (rows 8+): Displays individual data for modeling purposes. - Data entry fields: You may edit any of the cells that are light blue. All other fields have been locked to ensure the accuracy of the data. Exception: Status Code N and Performance Rating 0 are pre-populated for employees hired on or after April 1, 2014 and cannot be modified. - Data fields with auto-populated data: Relevant columns will auto-populate with data based on information stored in BMS or pre-populated formulas. TIP 1: Hovering over any column heading that has a red triangle in the upper right corner will reveal a description of the data that appears in that column. TIP 2: The following process is suggested for managing the data entry: Step 1: Enter the appropriate Status Codes in Column H Note: Status Code I, L, X and N are for employees that are not eligible for merit. Step 2: Enter performance Ratings from FOCUS performance reviews received from supervisors in Column I; leave the default merit recommendations that will auto-populate in Columns P and V when any change is made until all Performance Ratings are finalized Note: For employees with Performance Ratings 1 or 2 with no merit increase, Status Code will be automatically converted to 0 upon BMS data upload and download. Step 3: Enter changes to Merit Increase $ (Column P), Base Adjustment $ (Column T) and Lump Sum $ (Column V) using one of three methods for each column: simple dollar entry, percentage using formula, or final salary using formula method. It is your choice which method to use: 1. Simple dollar entry: default 2. Percentage using formula: =base * percentage (e.g. =base * 2.1%) 3. Final salary using formula: =recommended salary base (e.g. = 75000 base) Please note that base is pre-defined as current salary, so you could either type base as part of your formula or move the cursor to the cell that contains current salary Step 4: Enter comments in Column X where necessary (click on the red triangle on the heading for a list of examples where comments are required) Step 5: Create documentation for base adjustments via the Adj Name Tab 5
Adj Name Tab The Merit Tool includes a function to create a new informational tab for each employee for whom you are recommending a base adjustment. After a new tab is created for each employee, you will need to add your comments in the yellow field, and then move them to a different workbook (Excel file), and send them along with any additional backup documents to Department Management and Compensation for review. List and create individual Base Adj Proposal tab for individual employee. Step 1: Click on the "Name" button to refresh a list of employees with "Base Adjustment". Step 2: Start with Cell B5, choose "Yes" if a "Base Adj Proposal" tab has not been created and choose "No" if a "Base Adj Proposal" tab already exists. Step 3: Click on the "Create Tab" button to create individual "Base Adj Proposal" tabs. Step 1 Step 3 Step 2 Move the individual tabs to a different workbook for submission. Step 1: Click on one of the individual tab, hold down the Shift key and then click on the rest of the individual tabs so they are all selected. Step 2: Right click and select Move or Copy on the pop up menu. Step 2 Step 1 6
Step 3: Select New Book from the first drop down menu. Step 4: Click the OK button on the next pop up menu. Step 3 Step 4 - A new workbook will be created with the individual tabs. -!Important: Rename and save this new workbook to your department drive (i.e. Base Adj Proposal 2014) Unlink the new workbook from Merit Tool. Step 1: Select Edit Links from the Data tab on the menu bar. Step 2: Select Break Link from the pop up menu. Step 1 Step 2 7
Step 3: Click on Break Links from the alert bar. Step 3 Step 4: Click on Close and then save the new workbook. Base Adj Proposal Tab A template for providing background information and comments for employees with a recommendation for Base Adjustment. Individual tabs can be created in the Adj Name Tab. When an individual tab is created, all fields are pre-populated except for the yellow highlighted ones, where your inputs are required. This documentation will be reviewed by BOLT, HR and Compensation. Scorecard Tab This tab is information only and provides a summary report of the results of your inputs. Summary report of merit and performance rating distributions for the relevant group of individuals listed on the Worksheet Tab. If there are multiple departments, you could choose from the department drop down menu and create a summary report for each department. Leave the department drop down box blank (push the delete button on the keyboard if a department name is populated) to create a summary report for the entire population. 8