UW Trustees Approve Pay Raise Distribution Plan

University of Wyoming staff members making less than $150,000 annually will receive base pay raises of $1,900, along with additional increases based upon merit, market and compression issues, following action by the UW Board of Trustees.

Staff members making more than $150,000 annually will receive base pay raises of $1,400, and faculty members will see their base pay rise by $1,200, under the plan approved today (Thursday) by the trustees.

The raises are made possible with an appropriation of $12.27 million annually from the Wyoming Legislature and Gov. Mark Gordon. Set to take effect in the fiscal year that begins July 1, the raises constitute a second straight year of salary enhancements made possible by legislative appropriations -- and represent the second year of a UW salary plan initiated last year.

“We are deeply appreciative of the support from the governor and lawmakers to help us address our most pressing compensation issues,” UW President Ed Seidel says. “These raises, which prioritize our lower-paid employees, have made it possible for us to essentially implement a minimum wage of $15 per hour for all full-time positions at the university without exacerbating compression issues.”

For the university overall, the raises represent an increase of about 6.5 percent in total employee compensation. Individual staff employee raises will likely range from over 10 percent for lower-paid employees to 4 percent for higher-paid employees.

The legislative appropriation was divided into two separate funding pools -- $8.27 million for staff members and $4 million for faculty members.

The staff raises will be distributed in this manner:

-- Staff members making up to $149,999 annually will receive a $1,900 annual base salary increase; those making more than $149,999 will receive a $1,400 increase. This is expected to cost a little over $4 million annually.

-- The remaining staff salary funding, expected to be about $4 million, will be discretionary and will be used to address market-informed merit and compression issues. Funds will be distributed at the unit level based on each unit’s percentage of total payroll for employee base pay.

Faculty raises will be distributed in this manner:

-- All current faculty members with active contracts as of the fall 2023 semester will receive a $1,200 increase in base pay. This is expected to cost just under $1 million annually.

-- Up to $1 million will be allocated on a department-by-department basis to address internal faculty compression and inversion issues.

-- The remaining $2 million will be allocated by academic departments based on each department’s percentage of total payroll for faculty base pay. This pool of funds is discretionary and will be used to address market-informed merit increases.

Discretionary staff salary distributions will be reviewed and approved by the provost for academic colleges and the appropriate vice president for non-academic divisions. All staff raise plans will be reviewed and approved by the associate vice president for human resources.

Discretionary plans for faculty must be reviewed and approved by the provost and associate vice president for human resources.