Open Forum

 Hello Tracey,

We have also faced this issue. As someone who has had many years in HR (with experience in compensation work), but is new to museums, I was very surprised at how many positions were not benchmarked in the national surveys that are out there.  Our museum used only the AAMD survey for years, so one of my first challenges in this position was to look for additional resources.  (The rule of thumb in compensation is to have 3 data sources when benchmarking positions.)  

I was able to find another source, specifically to benchmark front line positions such as the retail associates in the shop and Visitor Services, as well as positions in Finance and Facilities.  I contacted our Connecticut Association of Non-Profits, to obtain their most recent non-profit salary survey.  I learned,though, that they had actually stopped doing the survey due to a lack of participation (too bad!), but they did offer an alternative. They had an agreement with PayScale (a national salary survey company), and for the same price as the Association's former salary survey, I could benchmark up to 25 positions, and they would pull the data through PayScale.  This turned out to be a bargain, because I only paid for the positions I needed. So if you have a local non-profit association, that may be a good place to start.

I just recently participated in a "National Museum & Cultural Institution Compensation Survey", sponsored by 4 large museums, and the museums which participated were varied in size and location.  The submission window has closed, but they haven't published the data as of yet.  It did include various levels of Visitor Services positions, such as Lead, Associate, and Assistant.  It did not include shop associates, but overall I was delighted that there was more than just the top couple of positions for each department surveyed.  Development, for example, had 16 different job titles.

I am very interested in establishing an HR group of AAM members, starting small with a regularly scheduled conference call, as I am sure we have many of the same issues.  Having discussions and sharing information I think is one of the best ways to help each other, and to grow the HR function in museums.  If you like, I would be happy to schedule a call with you if you would like to talk about compensation benchmarking further (or any other HR topic)!  Please feel free to reach out.

Hope you find this helpful, and Happy Holidays!

Hello,

We have also used PayScale but found that their benchmarks were way off base for our metropolitan area, I wish I had known about the National Museum & Cultural Institution Compensation Survey as we would have gladly participated!

I would also be interested in participating in a group of HR leaders in museums as we have many of the same challenges.

Have a wonderful holiday!

 Hello Tracey,

We have also faced this issue. As someone who has had many years in HR (with experience in compensation work), but is new to museums, I was very surprised at how many positions were not benchmarked in the national surveys that are out there.  Our museum used only the AAMD survey for years, so one of my first challenges in this position was to look for additional resources.  (The rule of thumb in compensation is to have 3 data sources when benchmarking positions.)  

I was able to find another source, specifically to benchmark front line positions such as the retail associates in the shop and Visitor Services, as well as positions in Finance and Facilities.  I contacted our Connecticut Association of Non-Profits, to obtain their most recent non-profit salary survey.  I learned,though, that they had actually stopped doing the survey due to a lack of participation (too bad!), but they did offer an alternative. They had an agreement with PayScale (a national salary survey company), and for the same price as the Association's former salary survey, I could benchmark up to 25 positions, and they would pull the data through PayScale.  This turned out to be a bargain, because I only paid for the positions I needed. So if you have a local non-profit association, that may be a good place to start.

I just recently participated in a "National Museum & Cultural Institution Compensation Survey", sponsored by 4 large museums, and the museums which participated were varied in size and location.  The submission window has closed, but they haven't published the data as of yet.  It did include various levels of Visitor Services positions, such as Lead, Associate, and Assistant.  It did not include shop associates, but overall I was delighted that there was more than just the top couple of positions for each department surveyed.  Development, for example, had 16 different job titles.

I am very interested in establishing an HR group of AAM members, starting small with a regularly scheduled conference call, as I am sure we have many of the same issues.  Having discussions and sharing information I think is one of the best ways to help each other, and to grow the HR function in museums.  If you like, I would be happy to schedule a call with you if you would like to talk about compensation benchmarking further (or any other HR topic)!  Please feel free to reach out.

Hope you find this helpful, and Happy Holidays!

Hi Everyone,

I love this discussion and would be very interested in sharing data about Frontline Positions.  I am fairly new to the museum field but, have over 20 years of experience in non-profits and understand the unique challenges we face in staying competitive for top talent, especially in these crucial positions that are often among the lower paid.

I would be very interested in an AAM HR Group and would gladly participate!

------------------------------
Kimberly Bountress
Director of Human Resources
Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore MD
kbountress@artbma.org

 Hello Tracey,

We have also faced this issue. As someone who has had many years in HR (with experience in compensation work), but is new to museums, I was very surprised at how many positions were not benchmarked in the national surveys that are out there.  Our museum used only the AAMD survey for years, so one of my first challenges in this position was to look for additional resources.  (The rule of thumb in compensation is to have 3 data sources when benchmarking positions.)  

I was able to find another source, specifically to benchmark front line positions such as the retail associates in the shop and Visitor Services, as well as positions in Finance and Facilities.  I contacted our Connecticut Association of Non-Profits, to obtain their most recent non-profit salary survey.  I learned,though, that they had actually stopped doing the survey due to a lack of participation (too bad!), but they did offer an alternative. They had an agreement with PayScale (a national salary survey company), and for the same price as the Association's former salary survey, I could benchmark up to 25 positions, and they would pull the data through PayScale.  This turned out to be a bargain, because I only paid for the positions I needed. So if you have a local non-profit association, that may be a good place to start.

I just recently participated in a "National Museum & Cultural Institution Compensation Survey", sponsored by 4 large museums, and the museums which participated were varied in size and location.  The submission window has closed, but they haven't published the data as of yet.  It did include various levels of Visitor Services positions, such as Lead, Associate, and Assistant.  It did not include shop associates, but overall I was delighted that there was more than just the top couple of positions for each department surveyed.  Development, for example, had 16 different job titles.

I am very interested in establishing an HR group of AAM members, starting small with a regularly scheduled conference call, as I am sure we have many of the same issues.  Having discussions and sharing information I think is one of the best ways to help each other, and to grow the HR function in museums.  If you like, I would be happy to schedule a call with you if you would like to talk about compensation benchmarking further (or any other HR topic)!  Please feel free to reach out.

Hope you find this helpful, and Happy Holidays!

I would also be interested  in participating in a users group on HR topics

 Hello Tracey,

We have also faced this issue. As someone who has had many years in HR (with experience in compensation work), but is new to museums, I was very surprised at how many positions were not benchmarked in the national surveys that are out there.  Our museum used only the AAMD survey for years, so one of my first challenges in this position was to look for additional resources.  (The rule of thumb in compensation is to have 3 data sources when benchmarking positions.)  

I was able to find another source, specifically to benchmark front line positions such as the retail associates in the shop and Visitor Services, as well as positions in Finance and Facilities.  I contacted our Connecticut Association of Non-Profits, to obtain their most recent non-profit salary survey.  I learned,though, that they had actually stopped doing the survey due to a lack of participation (too bad!), but they did offer an alternative. They had an agreement with PayScale (a national salary survey company), and for the same price as the Association's former salary survey, I could benchmark up to 25 positions, and they would pull the data through PayScale.  This turned out to be a bargain, because I only paid for the positions I needed. So if you have a local non-profit association, that may be a good place to start.

I just recently participated in a "National Museum & Cultural Institution Compensation Survey", sponsored by 4 large museums, and the museums which participated were varied in size and location.  The submission window has closed, but they haven't published the data as of yet.  It did include various levels of Visitor Services positions, such as Lead, Associate, and Assistant.  It did not include shop associates, but overall I was delighted that there was more than just the top couple of positions for each department surveyed.  Development, for example, had 16 different job titles.

I am very interested in establishing an HR group of AAM members, starting small with a regularly scheduled conference call, as I am sure we have many of the same issues.  Having discussions and sharing information I think is one of the best ways to help each other, and to grow the HR function in museums.  If you like, I would be happy to schedule a call with you if you would like to talk about compensation benchmarking further (or any other HR topic)!  Please feel free to reach out.

Hope you find this helpful, and Happy Holidays!

 Hello Tracey,

We have also faced this issue. As someone who has had many years in HR (with experience in compensation work), but is new to museums, I was very surprised at how many positions were not benchmarked in the national surveys that are out there.  Our museum used only the AAMD survey for years, so one of my first challenges in this position was to look for additional resources.  (The rule of thumb in compensation is to have 3 data sources when benchmarking positions.)  

I was able to find another source, specifically to benchmark front line positions such as the retail associates in the shop and Visitor Services, as well as positions in Finance and Facilities.  I contacted our Connecticut Association of Non-Profits, to obtain their most recent non-profit salary survey.  I learned,though, that they had actually stopped doing the survey due to a lack of participation (too bad!), but they did offer an alternative. They had an agreement with PayScale (a national salary survey company), and for the same price as the Association's former salary survey, I could benchmark up to 25 positions, and they would pull the data through PayScale.  This turned out to be a bargain, because I only paid for the positions I needed. So if you have a local non-profit association, that may be a good place to start.

I just recently participated in a "National Museum & Cultural Institution Compensation Survey", sponsored by 4 large museums, and the museums which participated were varied in size and location.  The submission window has closed, but they haven't published the data as of yet.  It did include various levels of Visitor Services positions, such as Lead, Associate, and Assistant.  It did not include shop associates, but overall I was delighted that there was more than just the top couple of positions for each department surveyed.  Development, for example, had 16 different job titles.

I am very interested in establishing an HR group of AAM members, starting small with a regularly scheduled conference call, as I am sure we have many of the same issues.  Having discussions and sharing information I think is one of the best ways to help each other, and to grow the HR function in museums.  If you like, I would be happy to schedule a call with you if you would like to talk about compensation benchmarking further (or any other HR topic)!  Please feel free to reach out.

Hope you find this helpful, and Happy Holidays!