From the Dean: Further explanation of merit raises
The state legislature provided a cost of living adjustment for all full-time staff and faculty members this year but did not provide a merit raise. The merit raise that was provided came from UGA funds, and UGA was the only USG institution allowed to offer a merit increase. As a result, the process was handled differently than past merit raise processes.
In the past, if the merit raise pool was 3%, each unit (department or office) received 3% of its total salaries to be distributed among members of the unit, and units could recommend raises of 0-6 % for any individual. In this situation, everyone or nearly everyone usually gets a raise, and the only stipulation is that there must be some range of percentages based on merit. In other words, a unit head cannot simply recommend everyone for a 3% raise. When we have these types of raises, the process starts at the department level with the department head recommending the raise amount for each individual in the unit. Some departments have a process or a formula for distributing this type of raise. We have not seen a merit raise pool of this type since fiscal year 2020.
The merit raise pool that was provided by the institution this year came with a different set of rules. Deans were limited to recommending raises of up to 4% for 20% of the faculty (in our case, 47 faculty members) and 20% of the staff (in our case, 39 staff members). Some individuals were deemed ineligible by the University—those who had recently had a counteroffer or other permanent base salary adjustment and those who had been in their roles for less than a year. The University also stipulated that any individual recommended for a raise had to meet the following criteria:
- Faculty: The faculty member’s 2023 performance evaluation must indicate exceptional productivity in at least one area where the faculty member’s allocation of effort (teaching, research, service, etc.) is more than 20%.
- Staff: Individuals must have an overall job performance rating of exceeds requirements OR meets expectations with at least one exceeds expectations in a primary role or primary area of responsibility on their 2023 performance review.
- If individuals have a needs improvement rating in any area of their review, they are not eligible.
The College process for this merit raise pool was handled differently. I reviewed College level data and made recommendations of individuals to receive raises. I shared my initial recommendations with unit heads for feedback and made further adjustments based on that feedback.
To identify faculty for consideration, I first took the top 10% of faculty in each unit based on overall merit rating. This was meant to account for the fact that a rating of “3” doesn’t mean the same thing across units but should be consistent within a unit. I then ran a linear regression on years in rank and salary by track and rank (e.g., clinical assistant professors as a group, clinical associate professors as a group, clinical professors as a group) to look for individuals whose salaries were significantly compressed (e.g., 2+ standard deviations below the mean). I iterated both processes until I had reached the allowable number of faculty.
To identify staff members for consideration, I followed a similar process of reviewing annual evaluations and compression data with the added element of consulting with assistant/associate deans who regularly interact with staff members in a particular category to gain a College level perspective on relative performance, given that there is generally only one staff member with a particular title in a unit.
My recommendations as well as an explanation of my process were then reviewed by Human Resources in July and August. In late August, units were asked to supply copies of annual evaluations for a random sample of 10% of those recommended for merit raises to ensure compliance with University criteria. Final approval for raises was received last week.