To Our Faculty and Staff:
We believe strongly that a great university is only as good as its people, and we recognize that we need to invest more in you—our exceptional faculty and staff. Therefore, we write today with historic good news.
Given the strength of the university’s finances coming out of the pandemic, we are pleased to announce that for Fiscal Year 2023 we are able to commit to an increase of 8% in compensation funding for faculty and staff. This is a $23 million investment by the university.
This $23 million will be distributed to the compensation pool and will be used to reward merit, to address fairness and equity, issues of compression (i.e., individuals receiving the same level of compensation despite differences in performance and skill), and to make market adjustments to salary levels. As a consequence of all of these elements as well as allocations to reflect merit, individuals will receive raises that will range both above and below 8%.
For staff, this approach means the following for Fiscal Year 2023:
- A 4% merit pool will be distributed by supervisors, based on an individual’s performance and allocated after an individual’s annual review timeframe, which is generally associated with the individual’s anniversary date.
- A second 4% pool will be held centrally and used to address the results of the Staff Compensation Study. Those funds will be allocated in or around September 2022. Because the cost of needed adjustments will vary—perhaps significantly—among units across campus, funding will be provided to units separately from the annual budgeting cycle.
As announced in December, the Staff Compensation Study focuses on three key areas:
- market competitiveness, in particular among more-specialized roles;
- fairness among and within salary grades regarding required experience, education, and duties; and
- equity relative to race, ethnicity, and gender.
For faculty, this approach means the following for Fiscal Year 2023:
- A 4% merit pool will be distributed to faculty members, based on an individual’s performance, by chairs and program directors in consultation with their deans. This will be allocated in July 2022, in most cases.
- A 2% pool will be held by deans to address issues of market competitiveness, compression, and equity and fairness, as well as extraordinary merit.
- A 2% pool will be held by the provost for distribution to faculty members whose performance is well beyond expectations. The provost will work with the deans for issues of market competitiveness, compression, and equity and fairness.
We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your perseverance over the past years. Together, we have emerged stronger and are grateful that we are now in a position where we can invest in our outstanding faculty and staff.
Eric W. Kaler
President
Ben Vinson III
Provost and Executive Vice President