Explanation of Employment Units

 

Employment units in terms of working hours

 

The starting point for calculating compensation for teaching tasks at the Technion is the employment table (“Palmore Table”). This table attempts to reflect the typical workload for each teaching assignment. Naturally, there is considerable variation at the Technion in the workload associated with tasks that bear the same name (such as grading assignments, supervising laboratories, etc.). Therefore, it is important to clarify that while an employment unit is a convenient measure for calculating an employee’s salary, it is not a clear or definitive measure of workload. Workload should be measured in working hours.

 

In the employment table and in the work procedures signed with the Technion administration in 2018, the conversion ratio between employment units and working hours is clearly defined (especially for grading, lab supervision, etc.):

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100 employment units = 15 ± 3 working hours per semester

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This ratio serves as a kind of “minimum wage” benchmark, designed to check whether there is an unusual workload compared to the allocated employment units. Accordingly, the academic authority responsible must plan the overall workload and distribute it among teaching staff so that it fits within — and does not exceed — the compensated working hours. If necessary, and following such planning, additional employment units may be allocated to staff.

Naturally, such planning should be done before the start of work. In cases where it becomes clear after work has begun that certain factors were not taken into account, the academic authority must be informed, and the employee must either be compensated retroactively for the work already performed or have their future workload adjusted so that the total does not exceed the maximum workload.

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It is important to emphasize that for standard teaching tasks that extend over an entire semester, it is not possible to allocate fewer employment units than those listed in the employment table.

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• Winter semester: October – March

• Spring semester: April – September

• Summer semester: All six salary payments are made in two installments, in August–September