OF RECORD

Salary Guidelines for 1996-97

The principle guiding our salary planning for fiscal year 1997 is to pay faculty and staff competitively, in relationship to the markets for their positions, in order to acknowledge their contributions to the University and to help us remain a strong and financially viable institution. With this in mind, the following guidelines are recommended.

Faculty Increase Guidelines

Although individual faculty decisions are made at the school level, with deans issuing to department chairs their own guidelines regarding resource constraints, certain standards have been established to which we ask all deans to adhere:

The pool for merit increases for faculty shall not exceed 3.5 percent. The recommended faculty salary increase range this year is 2.0 to 6.0 percent. In cases where schools wish to make faculty members' salaries more competitive, deans may supplement the general salary pool of 3.5 percent, but this supplement must not exceed 0.5 percent without prior approval of the Provost.We also ask that deans pay particular attention to those faculty who meet our standards of merit but whose salaries for various reasons have lagged over the years.
Salary increases to continuing faculty are to be based on general merit including recognition of outstanding teaching, scholarship, research, and service. As in previous years there will be no minimum base increment for continuing faculty.
The minimum academic salary for new assistant professors will be $38,000.

The Provost will review the deans' faculty salary recommendations prior to their release to insure that raises on average reflect market conditions in each discipline. The Provost must be consulted regarding any recommendations to provide either less than 2.0 percent or more than 6.0 percent salary increases for individual faculty, or to provide a total pool of over 4.0 percent (inclusive of the 0.5 percent referred to above).

Staff Increase Guidelines

The following guidelines should be followed when making staff salary increase decisions for the next fiscal year.

The pool for staff salary increases shall not exceed 3.0 percent. The recommended staff salary increase range this year for acceptable performance is 2.0 to 6.0 percent. Monthly, weekly and hourly staff members (excluding bargaining units) are eligible for increases from this pool if they are in a full-time or part-time regular status, are not student workers, and were employed by the University on or before February 29, 1996.

In addition, all staff must be paid at least at the minimum of their pay grade. This year, pay range minimums and maximums have been adjusted by 3 percent effective July 1, 1996. The new salary scales can be found on PennNet.

Individual salary increases for staff should be based on performance contributions. Salary increase decisions should be carefully made to ensure that similar work performance results in similar salary increases. Salary increases should support and confirm the feedback provided within the performance evaluation process.

In addition, departments should weigh other factors in determining salary increases, including equity within the department, the relevant job market and career progression. A decision to award no increase (0 percent) is appropriate if the work performance is less than satisfactory, i.e., fails to qualify for the "Solid Performance" category on the performance evaluation.

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Making effective salary decisions is crucial as we move forward in our efforts to fulfill the University's mission. We believe this year's salary guidelines will reward faculty and staff for their overall contributions while helping the University remain a strong and financially viable institution.

: Judith Rodin
President; Stanley Chodorow
Provost; John Fry
Executive Vice President

Almanac

Volume 42 Number 29
April 23, 1996

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