University announces strategic compensation plan for 2022-2023

NOVEMBER 9, 2022 — Editor’s note: The following message was sent today via email from President Taylor Eighmy, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy and Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Veronica Salazar to all faculty and staff:

Just over a year ago, we announced a multi-year comprehensive strategic plan to increase compensation, allowing us to recognize and invest in our outstanding faculty and staff. Today, we are pleased to share we are able to continue our focus on compensation in fiscal year 2023 (FY2023) as we continue to make UTSA an even better place to work.

We recognize that the past year has been challenging for many reasons, including inflation, ongoing COVID-19 concerns and more. Although we did not receive additional revenue in the last budgetary cycle and our available resources are limited, we leveraged the guiding principles of our Incentivized Resource Management (IRM) budget model and made every effort to invest in compensation as much as our resources allow. We accomplished this by applying existing funds to a variety of creative strategies designed to invest in and support our faculty and staff.

Over the coming months, we will implement the following strategies:

Merit increases and paid time off for outstanding performance

We will provide institution-wide merit increases ranging from 1.80% to 2.10% to recognize the outstanding work of our benefits-eligible employees. Building on last fiscal year’s increase of up to 4% that went into effect on January 1, 2022, our faculty and staff will have received permanent salary increases of up to 6.1% overall. This two-step approach results in the largest historical merit increase at UTSA over a twelve-month period.

This year’s increases will go into effect January 1, 2023 and will be reflected in February 1, 2023 paychecks. As in prior years, the total increase received will be based on 2021-2022 performance evaluation ratings, and percentages will differ from person to person. In January, benefits-eligible employees will receive personalized letters outlining their total FY2023 merit increase.

As a new strategy for FY2023, benefits-eligible staff will also be awarded up to 32 hours of paid time off in the form of administrative leave for use this fiscal year. As with merit, the total awarded hours will be based on 2021-2022 performance evaluation ratings. We encourage you to use awarded leave hours to take meaningful breaks from work to support your wellbeing and to practice a healthy and productive work/life balance.

Learn more about eligibility criteria for merit and administrative leave on the People Excellence website.

One-time payments

On December 1, eligible faculty and staff whose annualized salary/compensation is less than $60,000 will receive a one-time payment of $750. We recognize that inflationary pressures may have a greater impact on some members of our community, and the $60,000 threshold was set after careful consideration of our available resources and the average household income of our local community.

To be eligible for this payment, you must be a regular, non-temporary employee hired on or before September 1, 2022, with an annualized salary/compensation under the $60,000 threshold. Part-time employees will receive a prorated amount based on hours appointed per week. Please note that student employees are not eligible for this payment.

Eligible employees on monthly payroll will receive payment on December 1, 2022, while eligible employees on semi-monthly payroll will receive payment on December 7.

More information on performance evaluation rankings, merit increases and administrative leave awards will be posted in the coming weeks on the People Excellence website. Should you have any questions about your annual performance evaluation, the performance management process or these compensation strategies, please contact the People Excellence team.

These intentional investment strategies demonstrate our commitment to attracting and retaining an exemplary workforce that supports the university’s strategic growth and innovative excellence. Our plan aligns with our ongoing response to the results of our first faculty and staff Campus Climate survey, which identified compensation as a key area of focus. Over the last year, your valuable feedback from Campus Climate focus groups and town halls underscored the important role that effective compensation and recognition strategies have in UTSA’s status as a top tier university. Utilizing the feedback provided by our talented staff and faculty allows us to make strides toward ensuring that UTSA continues to be a great place to work.

Thanks to our focus on enrollment growth, student success and our IRM budget model alignment, the strategies we have implemented to date support meaningful salary increases to as many faculty and staff as possible. The majority of our strategies are permanent salary increases, designed to provide lasting support. Overall, our efforts include merit salary increases, market retention adjustments for staff positions identified as highly skilled or hard to fill, implementation of minimum pay scales and promotion raises for Fixed Term Track faculty, increased minimum hourly rates for classified staff and student employees, market retention/compression pay adjustments for high-performing faculty, one-time stipends and more.

Moving forward, we will continue to use many strategies to adjust and grow our compensation to ensure we are competitive with our Carnegie R1 peers. Supporting our faculty and staff with future compensation increases whenever the university can responsibly do so will remain a top priority.

We appreciate everything you do for UTSA.