As announced in the September 14, 2021 message from Chancellor Cynthia Larive and Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer, UC Santa Cruz will invest $5.5 million over three years (2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24) in a salary equity program for our non-represented staff. We have been working on the implementation of the second year of the program. The details of the program and eligibility criteria remain the same as our first year implementation. The effective date for biweekly paid employees is December 25, 2022 and the effective date for monthly paid employees is January 1, 2023. The following outlines the details of the program.
Program Overview and Objectives
The non-represented staff salary equity program will augment other campus salary programs such as annual increases and other equity adjustments. The purpose of this program is to bring employee salaries closer to the market (50th percentile of salary range) over a three-year timeline.
In the first and second year, the program prioritizes employees who are furthest below the midpoint of their respective Career Tracks salary ranges. Equity amounts for eligible employees will vary depending on individual pay circumstances.
The two main factors for consideration are an employee’s salary range penetration in their respective Career Tracks salary range and years in their current classification. Salary range penetration is a point between 0% - 100% indicating specifically where an employee’s salary falls within their salary range. Due to differences across employees in these two factors, not all employees will receive the same percentage salary increase, and not every employee will receive an increase.
In our second year, every non-represented staff member below the 75th percentile in pay grades 15 - 25 is eligible for salary adjustment consideration. For the six highest salary grades (26 - 31), only those who are below the 25th percentile are eligible.
This program is not intended to explicitly address existing compression issues, and it does not compound such issues either. If managers have concerns about compression, they should contact their compensation analyst to discuss and address specific issues on a case-by-case basis.
Salary increases will range from 0.18% to 4% of annual pay with the average around 1.3%. About 78% of the approximately 1720 non-represented staff will receive an equity adjustment in the second year of the program. Based on program parameters, 49% of the funds will be distributed to employees at or below the 25th percentile and 42% of the funds will be distributed to employees at or above the 25th percentile and below the 50th percentile. Approximately 95% of the $1.5 million will be distributed to employees in grades 15 through 25.
Eligibility criteria:
- Non-represented career, partial-year career and contract employees
- Employees who have a “Met Expectations” performance rating or above for 2021/22 (if an evaluation was not completed, “Met Expectations” is assumed)
- Employees hired before November 1, 2022
An important element of this equity initiative is that new hires are expected to be hired no lower than the 25th percentile of the salary grade range. This new practice will help us achieve our objectives of being more competitive. Any exceptions must be reviewed with the compensation team prior to making offers.
Combined with the traditional merit or general increase and traditional equities, this special program is designed to accelerate our progress towards a market-based compensation environment. We will monitor the outcome and implications over time; appropriate modifications to the program will be considered in the third year.
What You Should Expect Next
On December 5, 2022, Principal Officers will receive unit rosters with a list of eligible employees and equity increase percentages determined by compensation. Separately, Budget Analysis and Planning will send information to Principal Officers regarding associated funding opportunities. The equity increase amounts and percentages are established by the program parameters and cannot be adjusted. Eligible employees will be informed of their increases during the week January 9, 2023 after the information has been verified in UCPath. A message similar to this one will be sent directly to employees by email on December 12.
Any equity adjustments the unit would like to consider outside of this program can be submitted beginning January 18, 2023 in consultation with your compensation analyst.
Please contact compensation manager Shelby Young at syoung@ucsc.edu with any questions.
Thank you.
