Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Feb 15:3:2374289515628024.
doi: 10.1177/2374289515628024. eCollection 2016 Jan-Dec.

The Role of Compensation Criteria to Minimize Face-Time Bias and Support Faculty Career Flexibility: An Approach to Enhance Career Satisfaction in Academic Pathology

Lydia Pleotis Howell  1 , Kimberly D Elsbach  2 , Amparo C Villablanca  3
Affiliations

The Role of Compensation Criteria to Minimize Face-Time Bias and Support Faculty Career Flexibility: An Approach to Enhance Career Satisfaction in Academic Pathology

Lydia Pleotis Howell et al. Acad Pathol. .

Abstract

Work-life balance is important to recruitment and retention of the younger generation of medical faculty, but medical school flexibility policies have not been fully effective. We have reported that our school's policies are underutilized due to faculty concerns about looking uncommitted to career or team. Since policies include leaves and accommodations that reduce physical presence, faculty may fear "face-time bias," which negatively affects evaluation of those not "seen" at work. Face-time bias is reported to negatively affect salary and career progress. We explored face-time bias on a leadership level and described development of compensation criteria intended to mitigate face-time bias, raise visibility, and reward commitment and contribution to team/group goals. Leaders from 6 partner departments participated in standardized interviews and group meetings. Ten compensation plans were analyzed, and published literature was reviewed. Leaders did not perceive face-time issues but saw team pressure and perception of availability as performance motivators. Compensation plans were multifactor productivity based with many quantifiable criteria; few addressed team contributions. Using these findings, novel compensation criteria were developed based on a published model to mitigate face-time bias associated with team perceptions. Criteria for organizational citizenship to raise visibility and reward group outcomes were included. We conclude that team pressure and perception of availability have the potential to lead to bias and may contribute to underuse of flexibility policies. Recognizing organizational citizenship and cooperative effort via specific criteria in a compensation plan may enhance a culture of flexibility. These novel criteria have been effective in one pilot department.

Keywords: career flexibility; compensation; face-time bias; faculty satisfaction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. 2014 Association of American Medical Colleges Specialty Data File. Web site https://members.aamc.org/eweb/upload/Physician%20Specialty%20Databook%20.... Published November 2014. Updated June 2, 2015. Accessed August 9, 2015.
    1. 2014 Results of the Association of American Medical Colleges Graduation Questionnaire. Web site https://www.aamc.org/download/397432/data/2014gqallschoolssummaryreport.pdf. Published July 2014. Accessed August 18, 2015.
    1. Howell LP, Lyons ML, Thor A, Dandar V. Sex differences in workplace satisfaction and engagement of academic pathologists: opportunities to enhance faculty diversity. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2015;139:936–942. - PubMed
    1. Bentley RJ, Blackburn RT. Two decades of gain for female faculty. Teachers College Record. 1992;93:697–709.
    1. Ward KB, Grant L. Gender and academic publishing In: Smart J. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Edison, NJ: Agathon; 1995:172–212.