Market Data & Salary Sources

Governing Organizations, Regulations, Principles and Guides:

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governs minimum wage and overtime. The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, state, and local governments. The FSLA determines the exempt/non-exempt status on positions.
O*Net: An online repository of classification and compensation data sponsored by the federal Department of Labor.
State Council on Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) is the Commonwealth's coordinating body for higher education.
Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) - The Commonwealth’s governing body for human resources within Virginia.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA): mandates that employers offer healthcare benefits for full time employees (defined as 30 hours or more per week).
Manpower Control Act: Virginia code that establishes employment categories and work schedules in the Commonwealth and further limits non-benefit eligible positions to an average of 29 hours per week and 1,500 hours per year.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Independent Contractor Guidelines: Provides standards by which a determination of employee versus independent contractor status is determined.
Relevant Professional Organizations: organizations that have established standards for classification, qualifications, and titling. Examples include the National Athletics’ Trainer’s Association, American Association for University Professors, and the Association of Research Libraries, etc.

Compensation Studies: William & Mary will use a set of common and identified national compensation studies to help it analyze wage and salary rates to determine competitiveness. Some of these studies are propriety with limited access. By the terms and conditions of these published surveys, we are often not authorized to provide full access to the campus community. The following will be used as a baseline for decision making:

Commissioned Studies – At times, W&M will commission (contract) with various consultants for compensation studies. Examples include AJ Gallagher (2020) and Mercer (2023).

CUPA – HR (College & University Professional Association for HR) provides higher education position and salary data for hundreds of common higher education positions at the administrator, professional and staff levels.
EduComp - This nationwide survey collects total cash compensation data for professional, managerial and director level staff positions specific to higher-education institutions.
Mercer (DHRM authorized database and access) - The Mercer survey is for general industry and our analysis focuses on the southeast region and public sector. It is recognized by compensation professionals as a leading survey to determine salary levels for employees. This survey covers more than 3,000 positions in approximately 20 different job families from more than 3,000 organizations.
AAUP - American Association of University Professors
Oklahoma State Faculty Salary Survey by Discipline
Discipline specific Surveys – Published national surveys that may be available for use or provided by departments for use. Examples include
- AACSB – Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
- AALL – American Association of Law Librarians
- ARL – Association of Research Libraries

Each department is requested to share their discipline-specific salary survey results with HR each year when they are published.