Abstract

One of the most interesting quirks of academia is professional tenure. Many argue that tenure is necessary so that faculty can be protected by "academic freedom" to study the issues they find important without outside interference or pressures to conform. It is also, obviously, a nonmonetary reward and this security for life could offset higher salaries. Few accounts of the tenure system, however, recognize that while tenure essentially grants a job for life, it does not come with guaranteed lifetime raises. Some academic organizations, however, give roughly across the board annual raises. They don't seriously reward performance until a faculty member comes up with an outside offer. The department chair and college dean or president are then faced with deciding in a short time whether to let the person go or retain the faculty member by matching or beating the competing total rewards offer. This kind of compensation practice creates incentives or above-average professors to spend a lot of time looking for a job.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2012

Publisher Statement

Contents © 2012. Reprinted with permission from WorldatWork. Content is licensed for use by purchaser only. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from WorldatWork.

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