FY14 salary parameters set

Faculty and professional and scientific staff who receive satisfactory performance evaluations will see a salary increase on July 1 of at least 1 percent (1.5 percent for those with salaries of $60,000 or less).

Iowa State's 3-year-old salary policy, which covers faculty, P&S staff, employees on contract and post docs, applies to all funding sources. It requires university leaders each year to set minimum and maximum increases (PDF) for employees receiving a satisfactory – or better – performance evaluation. For FY14, those parameters are:

  • 1 percent minimum increase for those with salaries above $60,000
  • 1.5 percent minimum increase for those with salaries at or below $60,000
  • 5 percent maximum increase (proposals above this threshold require approval from the division's senior vice president)

Humanities salary initiative

Read about the special allocation intended to boost humanities salaries.

Employees with exemplary evaluations may receive merit-based increases in addition to the required minimum. Employees with unsatisfactory performance evaluations will not receive salary adjustments on July 1.

Assistant vice president for financial planning and budgets Dave Biedenbach said president Steven Leath recommended the two minimums last year to recognize that cost-of-living increases have a more significant effect on employees with smaller salaries. Leath recommended the same structure this year, but noted that it shouldn't be considered a standard practice for future years.

Biedenbach said the proposed FY14 General Fund budget includes about $7.3 million for performance-based salary increases. That figure is about 2.5 percent of the current General Fund payroll for faculty and P&S staff. Salary increase decisions will be based on available funds in each unit.

Market, equity and promotion considerations

Salary increases also may help correct external market equity issues or internal disparity among like positions. Total increases above 5 percent are permissible, but as outlined in the salary policy, require approval from the appropriate senior vice president. The form (PDF) supervisors should use to request a salary increase above 5 percent is on the Human Resource Services website.

Salary increases for the FY14 faculty promotions ($6,500 for Distinguished Professors, $6,000 for University and Morrill Professors, $5,500 for full professors and $4,600 for associate professors) and increases due to P&S reclassifications don't replace or eliminate performance-based increases.

ISU Plan cost changes

Biedenbach said the proposed FY14 budget includes an anticipated 5 percent increase in the university's cost for the ISU Plan when the new benefits year begins Feb. 1, 2014. If projected plan costs prove higher than that, employee participants could see a modest increase in the premiums they pay. An employee wellness component under development also could impact costs, depending on how it's structured.

Merit salaries and benefits

The state's new contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Iowa chapter, which covers nearly all university merit employees, calls for no salary increase on July 1. Merit employees who haven't reached the maximum salary in their pay grades will receive a 4.5 percent increase on their anniversary date at the university.

Biedenbach said the university is budgeting for a 7 percent increase in its cost for merit employees' participation in the state health care plan next year (Feb. 1, 2014). Actual contributions for merit employee health care will not be finalized until this fall.