NIU HR chief presents headcount, compensation analysis and automation plans

John Accardo, Northern Illinois University's chief human resources officer, presented a verbal update to the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee on May 8, 2025 covering headcount trends, a newly adopted compensation philosophy and steps to accelerate HR automation.

Accardo summarized headcount trends across employment groups (faculty, instructors, civil service, SPS/professional staff and principal administrators) and said the university has worked to stabilize staffing levels since COVID and conversions between SPS and civil service categories. He said the university uses market‑analysis tools including PayFactors, CUPA, IPEDS data and state civil service salary surveys to benchmark and target 92% of median market competitiveness for employment groups.

Accardo said NIU is investing in operational improvements: implementing a time‑and‑labor automation tool, automating forms and deploying DocuSign for appointment contracts, building a centralized employee training portal, and introducing a ticketing system for HR requests to speed responses. He said total rewards (benefits, tuition waivers and leave) add roughly 40% to the value of base compensation and cited NIU faculty average compensation compared with Illinois peers.

Trustees raised questions about retirement benefits and pension tiers, student employment and how NIU broadcasts its employee value proposition. Accardo provided counts for student employment (about 2,100 student employees and roughly 1,000 graduate assistants) and annual student employment spend (about $6.5–7.0 million). He said the HR office will continue peer analysis and stakeholder engagement on retirement benefits and compensation planning.