A one-year program to award merit-based salary increases for University of California faculty and staff formally began on Saturday.
Candidates include all UC faculty, as well as all non-represented staff members who earn less than $200,000 per year, according to an August letter from UC President Mark Yudof.
“(Yudof) is aiming to give chancellors a tool for recruiting and retaining leading faculty members,” said Dianne Klein, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President.
The total cost of the planned merit-based faculty increases is an estimated $57 million, Klein said.
Faculty who meet the criteria will receive 3 percent salary increases, she added.
The increases for non-academic staff, which range up to 6 percent, are estimated at $83 million, Klein said.
Faculty are reviewed about once every three years. Those who have received a positive review in the past four years will be granted a raise, said Robert Anderson, chair of the UC Academic Senate.
“The budget is very tight, and I understand concerns about that,” Anderson said. “However, the unfortunate reality is that faculty and staff have not had general increases since fall 2007.”
Staff employees who have joined the UC this year or received salary adjustments as the result of promotions since Jan. 1 will not be eligible for merit increases.
The staff increases will be retroactive to July 1, 2011.
Unionized employees are not eligible for the raise because their salaries are negotiated by collective bargaining, Klein said.
Anderson said UC faculty are estimated to be 13 percent below competitive salaries.
Some say the proposed increases will not do enough to close the gap.
“The 3 percent increase is wonderful, but it doesn’t even narrow the gap ““ it doesn’t even hold us steady,” said Shane White, chair of the UCLA Faculty Welfare Commission.
Andrew Leuchter, professor of psychiatry and behavorial sciences and chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, said the university has difficulty balancing staff and faculty compensation with the affordability of the overall system.
“We do not want to be less accessible to eligible students in California,” Leuchter said.
About 18 percent of money budgeted for all salary merit increases is coming from UC general funds, and roughly 20 percent is coming from core funds which include student fee revenue and UC general funds, Klein said.
Sixty percent is coming from other funds, including medical center revenues and contract and grant funds, she added.
In general, the peer evaluation process is rigorous, White said.
Criteria includes teaching, research and service, Leuchter said.
Peer evaluation begins with a faculty committee within the specific school, then progresses to a pool of eligible voting faculty members from within the school and culminates in a committee on main campus that evaluates the faculty member with a broader perspective.
Staff increases will vary based on performance evaluation, Anderson said.
Each year, staff are reviewed by a supervisor who evaluates projects the staff member has taken on, he said.