January Merit Process FAQs

To be eligible for a January 1 merit increase if approved by the CU Board of Regents and contingent upon meeting fall census targets, employees must meet the following criteria:

• Be in compliance with all applicable vaccine reporting requirements AND
• Be in an active, regular (not temporary) university staff, research faculty or regular faculty appointment on the effective date (January 1) AND
• Have a completed performance evaluation for the most recent performance cycle with a rating of meeting expectations or higher (3, 4, or 5) OR
• New hires and transfers effective on or before September 1 who were not eligible to participate in the most recent performance evaluation cycle must have a performance plan in place as required by applicable campus guidelines and will be assigned either a “Meeting Expectations” rating or NMS (No Merit Score) by the hiring unit. Assigning NMS means the employee will be ineligible if there is a merit exercise effective January 1 AND
• Employees receiving a base compensation increase effective on or before September 1 will remain eligible for a merit increase January 1, if the above criteria are also met.

• Employees hired, promoted, transferred, or who receive other base compensation changes effective after September 1, will not be eligible for the campus merit exercise for January 1. Hiring units should plan the new salary for these appointments accordingly. Units should work with their PMC consultant on the timing of any occupied staff position changes still in progress as of September 1.
• Temporary appointments and limited term appointments of 12 months or less are not eligible.

The following employees with an active appointment as of September 1 are eligible:

• Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty 
• Teaching faculty on multi-year agreements including principal instructors, senior instructors and instructors (with working titles of teaching professor, teaching associate professor and teaching assistant professor respectively)
• Institute Directors
• Scholars-in-Residence (must be on multi-year agreements)
• Artists-in-Residence (must be on multi-year agreements)
• Research Faculty (not including temporary, affiliates, and postdoctoral fellows)
• University Staff (not including temporary)
• Faculty in Administrative appointments (tied to base salary as outlined in a letter of offer)

• Classified staff
• Temporary research faculty
• Research affiliates
• Postdoctoral associates, fellows and stipends
• Graduate student faculty
• Student hourly employees
• Temporary staff (including working retirees)

• Annual salary adjustments are merit based and support current employees' salaries remaining competitive. Newly hired employees within the past 4 months are eligible for merit increases in future cycles but not immediately after hire.

• Classified staff pay increases follow a different cycle that aligns with State of Colorado personnel system laws and rules. Classified staff typically receive pay increases on July 1 of each year (instead of January 1 for non-classified employees) when approved by the Colorado legislature.

University staff follow a standardized merit allocation process. This process does not apply to regular faculty or research faculty. For January 2023, the campus has approved a university staff merit increase allocation as follows:

• NMS, 1 or 2 rating = not eligible (0%)
• 3 rating (including eligible new hires confirmed on the unit’s merit roster as meeting expectations) = 2.8%
• 4 rating = 3.0%
• 5 rating = 3.2%

University staff merit allocation decision notification

• Eligible employees will see these changes in their January end-of-month paychecks.

• Eligible employees will receive a salary increase notification email during the fourth week of January. The email notification template will be provided in advance to each college, school, and division HR leader in advance for reference. Units may communicate their own messages of thanks or any other unit specific considerations in advance or as a follow-up to the centrally sent notifications.

• Effective this year (the fiscal year 2022-23) the campus increased the promotion to associate professor with tenure raise from $2,000 to $6,500 and the promotion to full professor raise from $3,000 to $10,500. The campus created a modest additional compensation pool, tied to previous promotion and tenure raise increases and separate from the 3% merit pool to address compression. Each full professor promoted at CU Boulder to the rank of full professor in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 will receive $5,000 added to their base salary, beginning with the January 2023 paycheck and in addition to their January 2023 merit increase. 

• An overview of the merit exercise process and timeline is available for review and is also communicated by email with additional instructions to each college, school and division.
• University staff follow a standardized merit allocation process.  This process does not apply to regular faculty or research faculty. 
• For January 2023, the campus has approved a university staff merit increase allocation as follows:
  • NMS, 1 or 2 rating = not eligible (0%)
  • 3 rating (including eligible new hires confirmed on the unit's merit roster as meeting expectations) = 2.8%
  • 4 rating = 3.0%
  • 5 rating = 3.2%

• Budget and Fiscal Planning, Human Resources and the Provost’s Office will coordinate merit compensation increases and upload into HCM. HR Liaisons will be able to review compensation and confirm payroll after updates are entered into HCM.

• Campus funds cover the cost of merit increases for General Funds. Employees funded on other sources will need to self-fund.

• Under the new budget model, funding has already been allocated to schools/colleges for their 3% merit pool. Merit and other general compensation changes will now be funded by unit funds as all tuition revenue is fully distributed in the new model. Summaries will be provided by BFP to each school/college to show the calculated merit increases for the General Fund. 

• A 3% pool will be calculated based on ending FY22 GF continuing budget for faculty. This pool will be allocated to the unit for faculty merit allocations. 
• The HR university staff roster and Provost faculty roster will be used to determine the funding source(s) for each staff position in a support unit. Departments will receive a staff roster from HR and a faculty roster from Academic Affairs with columns to indicate whether General Fund funding is from continuing budget or temporary budget. The final General Fund continuing budget FTE will be applied to the increase amount prepared by HR based on performance score.
• General Fund FTE per rosters * HR provided merit amount = General Fund Budget Staff Salary Allocation
• The associated general fund benefits will be allocated at the corresponding fringe benefit rate to the benefit budget account code.

• Schools and colleges receive the estimated merit budget pool in July with their initial continuing budget. This continuing budget is allocated to the unit merit speedtype and half of the allocation is pulled back as a temporary budget reduction simultaneously.  No additional funding is provided to schools/colleges for the annual merit exercise. 
• For support units, continuing budget for the full 3% merit salary plus benefits will be transferred in February 2023. Half of that, 1.5%, will be pulled back as temporary budget reduction simultaneously. 

• Central campus will allocate the associated benefits budget for all general fund continuing salary increase allocations at the fringe benefit rate to support units. You can find fringe rate detail here.

• No, the department will need to identify funding for the merit increases for those employees not funded from continuing General Fund budget.

• Contract by course faculty compensation schedules will be adjusted by a minimum of 3% effective January 2023.

• Eligible employees include temporary faculty who have an active appointment for the Spring 2023 semester in the following jobs:
  • Lecturer
  • Professor Adjunct, Associate Professor Adjunct, Assistant Professor Adjunct, Senior Instructor Adjunct, Instructor Adjunct
  • Sr. Instructors (including those with the working title of “Teaching Professor”) and Instructors (on a less than one-year, 12-month appointment)
  • Scholars-in-Residence (on a less than one-year, 12-month appointment)
  • Artists-in-Residence (on a less than one-year, 12-month appointment)
  • Visiting Faculty (on a less than one-year, 12-month appointment)
  • Faculty Fellow (excluding administrative appointments)
  • Graduate students on assistantship appointment in job codes 1502, 1503, 1505, & 1506.

• Spring 2023 offer letters for temporary faculty (lecturer and adjunct positions) need to reflect this rate increase and units should revise pay scales accordingly.
• For information regarding graduate students on assistantship appointments, please see the Graduate School website for more details.

• Each department shall communicate the new temporary faculty contract rates directly with eligible employees in their respective areas following their usual notification processes.

• Under the new budget model, funding has already been allocated to schools/colleges for their 3% pool, which includes graduate students on appointment and temporary faculty. Merit and other general compensation changes will now be funded by unit funds as all tuition revenue is fully distributed in the new model. Summaries will be provided by BFP to each school/college to show the calculated merit and across-the-board increases for the General Fund. 

• Schools and colleges receive the estimated across-the-board budget pool in July with their initial continuing budget. This continuing budget is allocated to the unit merit speedtype and half of the allocation is pulled back as a temporary budget reduction simultaneously.  No additional funding is provided to schools/colleges for the across-the-board increases. 
• For support units, continuing budget for the full 3% across-the-board salary plus benefits will be transferred in February 2023. Half of that, 1.5%, will be pulled back as temporary budget reduction simultaneously.

• Central campus will allocate the associated benefits budget for all general fund continuing salary increase allocations at the fringe benefit rate to support units. You can find fringe rate detail here.

• No, the department will need to identify funding for across-the-board increases for those employees not funded from continuing General Fund budget.