Dear Colleagues,
During the Q&A portion of last week’s State of the University, there were a few questions about the status of salary increases this year.
First, our apologies. The university usually informs managers and employees about the status of salary increases in December each year. We are delayed in communicating and we apologize for that.
In previous?communications, we discussed the financial headwinds that the university was confronting before COVID. As was highlighted in the?State of the University?address last week, COVID has made those headwinds significantly stronger resulting in a large budget deficit. In order to achieve financial sustainability by FY2023, we need to reduce expenses and/or increase revenue by $40 million. As a result, we are not able to offer salary increases this year. In fact, many senior university administrators agreed to a salary reduction in FY2021. For those employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement, please review your CBA for salary information.
We know this is disappointing news in what has been an incredibly challenging year. You stepped up to help the university navigate this extraordinary year and we are incredibly grateful.
I remain hopeful that our work with Huron to reduce costs, the anticipated future savings from CERP, efforts to grow revenue and federal support to help with specific COVID related costs will allow us to offer increases to employee compensation in FY2022 and beyond.
Regards,
James W. Dean Jr.
President
Kathy Neils
Chief Humans Resources Officer
