OCTOBER 10, 2023 — Editor’s note: The following message was sent today via email from President Taylor Eighmy,Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Veronica Salazar, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley to all faculty and staff:
Two years ago, we launched a comprehensive strategic plan to increase compensation, and since then, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to invest in our faculty and staff. In recent weeks, we shared information on our strategic plan refresh and our revised third destination—to make UTSA an innovative place to work, learn and discover—as well as our creation of the Campus Experience task force, a group that will focus their efforts on enhancing the campus experience for all Roadrunners. Compensation is an important aspect of both reaching our strategic destinations and fulfilling our commitment to enhance the campus experience, and it remains at the forefront of our priorities.
Today, we are pleased to share that we are able to continue our focus on compensation in fiscal year 2024 (FY2024). As in recent years, our strategies will encompass a broad total rewards package designed to provide meaningful salary increases to as many faculty and staff as possible, enhance the employee experience and support a healthy work/life balance.
Institution-wide merit increases ranging from 2.50% to 3.00% will be provided to recognize the outstanding work of our benefits-eligible employees. This strategic investment in our employees will result in an increase of up to 9.1% overall, the largest historical merit increase at UTSA over a 24-month period.
Increases will go into effect Jan. 1, 2024 and will be reflected on the Feb. 1, 2024 paycheck. The total increase received will be based on 2022-2023 performance evaluation ratings. In January 2024, benefits-eligible employees will receive personalized letters outlining their total merit increase.
Benefits-eligible staff will also be awarded up to 32 hours of paid time off in the form of administrative leave for outstanding performance for use by Aug. 31, 2024. This strategy was first introduced last year and was well received by staff. As with merit, the total awarded hours will be based on 2022-2023 performance evaluation ratings.
Eligibility criteria for both strategies is available on the People Excellence website. Detailed information on merit increase percentages and administrative leave awards will be posted in the coming weeks. Should you have any questions about these strategies, your performance evaluation or the performance management process, please contact the People Excellence team.
More so, as we continue to focus on how to best support our staff and continue to improve our compensation strategies, we are pleased to announce that we plan to launch a comprehensive compensation study in spring 2024. As always, we will provide the Roadrunner community with updates on our progress and additional information as it becomes available.
We are committed to ensuring UTSA continues to be a great place to work, and supporting our faculty and staff with future compensation increases whenever the university can responsibly do so will remain a top priority. As always, we appreciate everything you do for UTSA.
