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Equity Increases (Policy-Covered Staff)
The Equity Increase Guidelines explain the purpose, criteria, process and effective date rules for Equity Increases at UCSB. In sum, Equity Increases are meant to help correct cases of salary inequity (internal or external), immediate retention problems or inappropriate salary differences between Supervisors and those they supervise (referred to as “salary compression”). Equity Increases are not meant to replace or supplement merit increases or reclassification increases, nor are they given solely on the basis of longevity, performance or increased workload.
Only management may request an equity review or propose an equity increase for an employee. Equity reviews and increases are not an entitlement of the employee nor are they a requirement by the University. The Compensation Analysts are available to advise Management on the appropriateness of such requests.
Purpose: The UCSB Equity Increase Guidelines for Non-Represented Employees are published by Human Resources in order to help departments balance competitive pay with campus salary equity. The guidelines are to be used in conjunction with Local PPSM policy 30.B.7.
Criteria: To be eligible for an equity increase, an employee must be actively working (not on leave), have performance of satisfactory or above and meet one or more of the below criteria:
1. Internal salary inequity between employees in the same job title on campus.
2. Internal salary inequity between new hires and current employee in the same job title in a particular department, division or college.
3. External market inequity, as evidenced by one or more of the below situations:
a. Valid market data showing that our competition pays higher salaries for similar work
b. Recruitment difficulties
c. Sharp increase in turnover for similar work on campus
4. Immediate retention concerns, such as an external job offer made to an employee.
5. Salary compression between supervisors and those whom they supervise.
6. Additional duties and/or responsibilities have been added to the position that increase the complexity or scope but do not warrant a reclassification. Changes to the job must be substantial and on-going and will typically represent at least 20% of the overall position. An updated job description is required to substantiate the request for an equity increase.
Equity Increases (Represented Employees)
In general, all terms and conditions related to pay increases for represented employees are negotiated in the applicable collective bargaining agreement. Beyond the negotiated terms of an agreement, management has the sole discretion to request an equity review or propose an equity (off-cycle) increase for a represented employee. All requests for reviews or off-cycle increases must be submitted to Compensation (via Service Now) by management. Compensation will review and advise management on the appropriateness of such requests. Any approved off-cycle increases or adjustments must conform with the terms in the applicable collective bargaining unit contract.
Process
If a department is concerned about possible salary inequity, their designated Compensation Analyst can be contacted through HR's Service Now portal. You can request an Equity Report of your department employees by selecting "Equity Information Request".
Once you're ready to submit a request formally, the process is as follows:
- Obtain all necessary pre-approvals from your divisional or department authority/control point prior to submitting a request to HR. The delegated authority or control point is typically the Dean, Provost or Vice Chancellor. The department is responsible for understanding and abiding by their approval processes. Please note that all increases are subject to budgetary approval from the appropriate department control point.
- The department submits a formal request for equity review by submitting an HR ServiceNow ticket. The process in ServiceNow will prompt you to explain why the increase is being requested. The request should explain which of the equity criteria listed above is met. Information not pertaining to the criteria, such as workload, performance or longevity, need not be included. If the justification includes additional duties and responsibilities, an updated job description must be submitted via Job Builder as part of the equity request.
- Compensation will confirm the approval or denial of the increase, the new salary and the effective date via a ServiceNow generated email to the department.
- If approved, the department may then input the increase into UCPath using a PayPath action. Action code = PAY and Reason code = EQU.
Effective Date: Equity increases for monthly paid employees may be effective the first of the month or later following receipt of the completed request in Compensation. Equity increases for hourly paid employees may be effective the first of the bi-weekly pay period following receipt of the request in Compensation*. If the department desires an effective date LATER THAN the first of the month or bi-weekly pay period following receipt, please note this in the request memo/email to Human Resources.
* This policy for hourly employees became effective on July 1, 2013.