UW Research

Merit Increase Policy

  • Purpose

This policy establishes guidelines for administering general merit increases for professional staff and faculty within the Office of Research. This policy does not apply to in-grade or retention increases, which are subject to separate policies and processes.

  • Revision History

Revised:  December, 2012
Revised: April, 2014
Revised: July, 2015
Revised: February, 2018

3.0       Persons Affected

3.1        Office of Research Associate Vice Provosts, Assistant Vice Provosts, Directors, Managers and Supervisors
3.2        Office of Research Administrators/fiscal staff
3.3        Office of Research faculty and professional staff
3.4        Office of Research, Office of the Vice Provost for Research

4.0       Policy

General merit increases for professional staff are authorized by the State Legislature and the UW Board of Regents.

Professional staff are, in general, eligible to receive merit increases if they have not been hired, promoted, and/or had their permanent/ongoing monthly salary adjusted in the six months prior to the effective date of the merit increases.

Unless otherwise noted, unit heads (chairs and unit directors) have discretion in determining the merit amount within the guidelines set forth by Academic Human Resources (for faculty) or the Compensation Office (for professional staff), based on performance. Merit recommendations for faculty and professional staff are subject to approval by the Vice Provost or Vice Provost’s designee.

Managers are encouraged to award salary adjustments that reflect merit and make distinctions based on performance. Performance expectations, ongoing coaching and feedback, and performance evaluations should lay the foundation for determining merits given to staff. Variations in adjustments may also be considered based on recent hiring actions, salary reviews, and market or equity issues.

Factors that might influence recommendations include:

  • Performance of job duties
  • Accomplishment of special projects or tasks of benefit to the unit
  • Achievement of efficiencies
  • Customer service contributions

Other issues that might appropriately be considered in developing a recommendation include:

  • Consideration of salary levels that are not competitive with the market and the risk of losing an employee to our competitors
  • Internal salary compression with other staff members.
  • Any recent hiring actions, salary reviews or adjustments for the individual.

Units should endeavor to achieve an equitable distribution of their allocation across all professional staff levels (Grades 5 to 14).

Merit is funded from central sources for staff permanently budgeted for on state or departmental budgets (e.g. GOF and DOF). Merit for staff not budgeted on the above budgets (e.g. grants, gifts, RCR) is self-funded by each budget.

Each unit is required to stay within the average merit percentage authorized for professional staff, regardless of the source of funding.

5.0       Definitions

5.1       General merit increase: merit increase approved by the State Legislature that applies to an entire class of employees. The increase is then given to each employee in the class based on considerations outlined in section 4.1, and not applied across-the-board. (Note: Classified and contract-classified staff are subject to a different process whereby they are given automatic step increases each year within their salary ranges, as part of their compensation package.)

6.0       Responsibilities

6.1        OR managers and supervisors are responsible for issuing merit raise recommendations for professional staff to the heads of each unit.

6.2        Unit Directors are responsible for oversight of this merit process for staff in their work units, in accordance with University rules and work unit practices, and issuing recommendations for merit raises to the Vice Provost for Research.

6.4        OR Administrators and fiscal staff are responsible for budget oversight and ensuring that the unit stays within the average merit percentage authorized for professional staff, regardless of the source of funding. They are also responsible for reviewing the dates of previous increases, raises, and/or promotions that may impact merit increase decisions.

6.5        The central Office of Research is responsible for oversight and overall coordination of the merit process and for ensuring that average merit percentages are aligned for each unit.

6.6        The Vice Provost is responsible for approving all merit increases for faculty and professional staff.

7.0       Procedures

7.1        The Budget Office sends the official centrally-funded merit amount to the central office. The Director of Finance verifies that these numbers match the Vice Provost’s Office figures.

7.2        Approximately 30 days before the effective date of the merit increase, OR Central sends a draft list of all professional staff to each unit. The file contains:

  • Employee name
  • Employee ID (EID) number
  • Current budgeted salary
  • Salary sources & FTE on each budget
  • The unit’s total merit that is centrally funded (expressed as dollars)

7.3        The unit head or designee reviews the file and inputs the merit recommendation % for each employee, while taking care not to a) exceed the approved merit dollar amount for the unit and b) exceed the average percentage merit increase authorized regardless of funding source.

7.4        Any 0% merit recommendation for professional staff should be documented and forwarded to the Vice Provost’s Office with the completed electronic file. Justifications for merit raises that are substantially higher than the average also must be submitted.

7.5        The Directors of Human Resources and Finance will review the merit recommendation for each unit and will communicate any questions, comments or changes via meeting or email. The Vice Provost or designee approves the final merit increases for Office of Research faculty and professional staff.

7.6        OR Central will send a copy of the final merit file to the Budget Office for review and approval by the Compensation Office (professional staff merit).

7.7        The Budget Office and the Integrated Service Center will upload merit increases into Workday and BGT.

7.8 Units should carefully review new professional staff salaries to ensure they match the final merit file. If any changes need to be made, staff should first contact the Director of Finance.

7.9 Extended Leaves of Absence, Temporary Pay Increases and Temporary Project Appointments:

Extended Leaves of Absence

For purposes of the Professional Staff merit increases, the definition of an extended leave of absence is an absence of more than six months during the review period.  At their discretion, managers may award merit, market and/or equity salary increases to employees who have had an extended leave of absence during the review period.

Temporary Pay Increase (TPI) & Temporarily Funded Project Appointments

Salary adjustments on Temporary Pay Increases and Project Appointments are not centrally funded, and are therefore not eligible for the increase. If an increase is desired and the funding is available, the regular process should be used for increasing the amount of a TPI or the salary of a project appointment.  Managers planning to increase the amount of the TPI or Project Appointment salary must prepare the applicable request forms.

8.0       Content Creator:
Director of Human Resources and Operations, Office of Research

9.0       Effective Date:
February 16, 2018