Central funding pool includes pay upgrade for night and weekend employees at UW–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has announced that $12 million in central campus funding is being allocated to provide faculty and staff pay adjustments for 2017–18.

The funding pool will enable UW–Madison to provide pay increases for exceptional performance, market deficiencies, and equity. This is a continuation of the compensation funding programs that were used in 2016–17 to address pressing compensation issues. Programs include the block grant, discretionary compensation fund (DCF) and performance bonus fund.

Part of the DCF central funding will be used to upgrade the night and weekend differentials for university staff. This upgrade recognizes that campus shift differentials have lagged far behind market rates in recent years.

“University Staff governance identified improving the night-shift and weekend differentials as an issue of utmost importance,” explains Laurent Heller, vice chancellor for finance and administration. “We are pleased to take this action, which will have a positive impact on our second- and third-shift workers, some of whom are our lowest-paid employees. Through their hard work, they contribute greatly to the mission of the university.”

Differential pay provides additional compensation to employees working night and weekend shifts compared to those employees working the day shift. The differential will increase from $0.45 per hour to $0.80 per hour for night employees and from $0.60 per hour to $0.80 per hour for weekend employees.

Other uses of the central compensation funds include pay increases for exceptional performance and addressing market deficiencies for faculty and staff, including compensation issues that impact employee retention. UW–Madison continues to trail peer institutions in compensation in many areas, Heller says.

“Our faculty and staff are truly the drivers behind all the things we do as a world-class higher education institution,” Heller adds. “Providing $12 million of central funding will help to address compensation challenges for UW–Madison’s outstanding faculty and staff.”

While the compensation increases funded by central campus will provide targeted increases for a number of employees in the 2017-18 fiscal year, the recently passed state budget provides for a pay plan (4 percent total) in the 2018–19 fiscal year that will result in broader compensation increases.