Effective July 1, 2020, and going forward, when merit increases are approved for university staff, they will follow a standardized campus allocation model administered by Human Resources, in collaboration with Budget and Fiscal Planning and the Provost’s Office. All university staff employees across campus with the same performance rating will receive the same merit increase allocation determined by the campus executive leadership.

Merit increases are applied to base salary only, not to any additional temporary, non-base building pay. Pay increases for purposes other than merit (e.g. equity, compression, retention) should be addressed outside of the annual merit increase process throughout the year as they arise. University staff merit increases are uploaded to PeopleSoft HCM and typically effective January 1st.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a merit increase when a merit pool is available, university staff employees must:

  • 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.
  • Temporary appointments and limited term appointments of 12 months or less are not eligible.

Since the Board of Regents may apply different merit restrictions to officer level positions, officer merit allocations will be managed separately from the campus-wide university staff allocation process. Some exceptions also apply to university staff employees paid on a Regent-approved employment contract.

Frequently Asked Questions

Regular (not temporary) university staff employees with a performance rating of meeting expectations or higher may be eligible for a merit (performance) based increase each year if approved by the CU Board of Regents and contingent upon meeting fall census targets.

Colorado’s new Equal Pay Act (CEPEWA), effective Jan. 1, 2021, provides our campus with the opportunity to review and enhance our campus processes for establishing and maintaining consistent and fair pay practices campuswide. Our campus culture of innovation and efficiency supports the continuous refinement of policies and practices. A first step to ensure our campus is strategically positioned for the CEPEWA, is to streamline the merit allocation process for our university staff population to ensure consistent pay practices for similarly situated employees. 

Effective July 1, 2020, merit increases for university staff will follow a standardized campus allocation model administered by Human Resources, in collaboration with the Budget & Fiscal Planning Office and the Provost’s Office. University staff merit allocations will no longer be determined through each unit’s individual merit roster. This also means that all university staff employees across campus with the same performance rating will receive the same merit allocation determined by the campus executive leadership.

Instead of each department head determining the merit increase percentage to allocate to each of their employees individually and independently from what other campus department heads are allocating to their employees, all university staff employees campuswide with the same performance rating will receive the same merit allocation. The merit allocation will be the same for each employee with the same rating so that the increases are consistent campuswide. For example, all university staff employees campuswide with a 3 rating would receive X% or $X, a 4 rating would receive Y% or $Y, and a 5 rating would receive Z% or $Z. The percentages or dollar amounts allocated are a budget calculation based on the overall merit pool approved by the Regents and the campus rating distributions. 

Employees rated below meeting expectations (rated as 1 or 2) continue to be ineligible for a merit increase.

No, at the present time, the standardized merit allocation model applies to university staff only.  The merit processes for faculty, research faculty, and classified staff are not changing.

Effective July 1, 2020, merit increases for university staff will follow a standardized campus allocation model administered by Human Resources.

To be eligible for a merit increase when a merit pool is available, university staff employees must:
  • 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.

Effective performance management is a critical part of our campus merit process in that equitable merit increases depend upon fair and honest performance evaluations. Human Resources is working directly with campus supervisors to provide education, tools and resources about calibration and effective performance management to help supervisors and department heads ensure consistent and aligned performance evaluations for their employees.

All university staff employees that meet the eligibility criteria described previously will be part of the standardized campuswide merit allocation process, regardless of funding type. It is important for employees in the same personnel system and with the same performance rating to receive the same merit allocation in order to ensure salaries are kept in alignment and pay parity practices are maintained.

You may submit our online feedback form and a Human Resources consultant will respond promptly to your question.