On January 22 CU-Boulder Today ran a story on actions taken to . At that time, Chancellor DiStefano had directed Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Kelly Fox to delay a proposal that would have increased the pay of low-wage employees in Housing and Dining Services, with goal of conducting a comprehensive interdepartmental review of all employees in that wage category. In January adjustments were made to the pay of many employees based upon the results of this study. Campus administration also provided the affected employees with a commitment to develop additional benefits to help them advance in their careers.
Last week the University of Colorado Board of Regents, at the request of Chancellor DiStefano and SVC Fox, voted to approve a 2 percent merit pool for raises for classified and university (formerly professional exempt) staff on the Boulder campus. Although the Governor’s budget proposal for the state does not include a merit increase for State classified employees this year, the Chancellor noted that CU-Boulder should be able to offer employee merit increases across both job classes. He further emphasized that granting a merit pool for only one group is not an equitable approach to our university’s employees, and the Board agreed.
CU-Boulder Today sat down with Chancellor DiStefano and discussed how the approval of this merit pool is part of a larger effort towards equitable wages on the Boulder campus.
Chancellor DiStefano, why did the original planned raise for housing and dining workers get delayed last year?
With my support, SVC Kelly Fox took that action not because the raises were not well-deserved, but because we needed to ensure that we treat employees in like-jobs across the campus in a fair and equitable manner. It was important that we look at all employees in this wage category and make adjustments as warranted across multiple departments, not just one department. Those adjustments occurred this past January. We greatly appreciate that our employees took action to bring their concerns to us so that they could be addressed.
In the past, when the State budget has not included raises for classified employees, we have followed this direction. Though this year’s state budget does not include merit increases, you and the Regents are supporting a 2 percent merit pool for our classified employees. What has changed?
Over time it has become clear to State administration that unlike other state entities, we are not a homogenous unit with only classified employees. When you have classified staff and university staff working together every day, an inequitable approach to merit increases will absolutely affect the work environment. Flexibility legislation that went into effect several years ago now allows CU campuses to self-fund increases for all employees, including classified staff. We have committed to ensuring that we provide raises either to all employees who have earned a merit increase, or to none. So this year, all CU-Boulder employees who have earned a merit increase will receive one from this merit pool.
You also proposed to the Regents that the campus have a 1 percent wage compression pool. If approved, how would this be used by the campus?
This pool would be utilized to address salary compression. Salary compression occurs when the pay of one or more employees is very close to the pay of more experienced employees in the same job. We also have instances where we are well below the market rate for jobs. If this is approved by the Regents, we will provide guidelines to the departments across the campus for how these funds can be access and utilized.Ìý
