UW opens wallet to retain top faculty, staff

UW–Madison spent nearly $800,000 last year to increase the pay of 88 faculty and staff members courted by other universities and private companies.

The salary adjustments at UW–Madison were among 136 made at UW System schools during 1997-98 that totaled $1,022,466. UW–Madison topped the list at $785,478; the next closest was UW-Stout, which spent $38,131 among six employees. UW-Milwaukee split $31,011 between 13 employees.

Market base adjustments, as they are called, are considered when UW employees receive outside offers or when there is evidence of retention problems: for example, employees in similar fields leave for higher pay, or other institutions contact several members of one department about possible employment.

“The market adjustments really demonstrate that we have some difficulty retaining faculty and academic staff,” says Carla Raatz, director of the Office of Human Resources.

Of the 120 professors who left the university last year, almost half of them (56) departed for reasons other than retirement. UW–Madison faculty and staff were recruited last year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; several Ivy League universities, including Columbia, Harvard and Yale; and most of the university’s peer institutions, including Big Ten schools and the University of California-Berkeley.

Some faculty and staff members received offers from universities as far away as Australia, England, Germany and Switzerland. And several private companies courted key faculty and staff in computer, food and other sciences. Faculty received the majority of the pay adjustments – 68 in all. The rest went to academic staff and athletic coaches.

UW–Madison’s reputation as one of the nation’s top public research universities, combined makes it an attractive place for other schools to recruit talented faculty and academic staff. And relatively low pay compared to similar institutions exacerbates the situation. The university offers competitive pay for new professors: They averaged $50,595 last year. But the $73,935 average salary for full professors in 1997-98 ranked next to last among UW–Madison’s official peer group of 12 public research universities, the same position as 1996-97. The university ranked 10th in this category in 1995-96.

According to the Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis, it would have taken a 10.7 percent pay increase last year just to raise the average full professor salary to the peer group median.

In response to these challenges, UW–Madison is taking steps to bolster recruitment and retention of top faculty. During the 1996-97 academic year, UW–Madison spent $485,582 to retain 60 faculty and staff. In 1995-96, the university used $421,541 for salary adjustments to 71 employees. Departments must reallocate existing funds to cover the additional pay raises.

Looking to the future, Chancellor David Ward’s biennial budget initiative, included in the UW System’s 1999-2001 budget request, is designed to hire 100 new faculty in the next four years.

Funding for the positions over the next two state budgets is expected to come from $57 million in state taxes and tuition as well as income raised from a $200 million endowment to be funded by alumni and donors.

The amount spent on salary adjustments to counter competitive offers at UW System institutions must be reported to the Legislature and state budget officials by Oct. 1 each year. The information was included in a report approved by the Board of Regents earlier this month.