Changes for faculty and staff:

• 3 percent performance-based pay increase
• $1 million in compression aid
• $1 million to unfreeze positions
• $500,000 for new positions
• 15 percent increase in cost of health care

Changes for non-
exempt staff only:

• 1 percent increase in retirement rate

$1 million provided to deal with compensation
Money to be spread between faculty, staff

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

Salary compression is real, Staff Assembly chairwoman Jean Andrus said in a letter to Chancellor Michael Ferrari regarding plans for the 2001-2002 budget.

Compression is when entry level employees are hired at a higher rate, because of higher market values, than existing employees were. The difference between the figures is compressed over time.

In response to the Staff Assembly’s concerns, the Board of Trustees approved a $189 million operating budget with a $1 million provision to deal with the issue, said Carol Campbell, vice chancellor for finance and business.

Campbell said the $1 million will be proportioned out equally, based on a percentage of the salary pool for both faculty and staff. Human Resources will make recommendations as to where compression is the most intense, she said.

William Koehler, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that based on those recommendations and need, the portions will then be allotted to the vice chancellors for distribution.

“For my portion, I asked each dean and associate or assistant vice chancellor for a list of priority issues, and then I tried to find some equitable way to appropriate the funds,” he said. “But in my department, each dean will get less than they asked for.”

Nowell Donovan, chairman for the Faculty Senate, said compression is a delicate issue.

“I don’t think there is a blanket solution that can be applied,” Donovan said. “You have to examine each individual circumstance.”

The $1 million will aid in increasing the range between newer faculty and staff, who were hired at higher current market rates, and the next level up of employees, hired at lower rates.

“It’s based on supply and demand,” Koehler said. “Where there is a higher demand for faculty and a lower supply, you will see greater compression.”

Andrus said that although the $1 million is allocated to decrease compression, the $1.5 million was allotted in the budget this year to unfreeze positions and hire on new faculty and staff, which could further increase compression.

Campbell said she realized over the summer that due to inflation and increasing energy costs, $1 million in faculty and staff positions could not be compensated for.

“We saw that the budget that was passed was not going to be balanced,” she said. “We essentially had to tell departments not to fill those positions.”

The positions where vacancies or turnovers had occurred were frozen to avoid hitting a negative bottom line, Koehler said.

“We already know the salary rates that we will be hiring at,” he said. “So we’ll factor that dollar amount in when dealing with compression and look at where the money will be the most beneficial.”

Andrus said that in theory, the $1.5 million could counteract the $1 million.

“But we’re a million (dollars) better off than we would be without it,” she said. “We understood from the beginning that there would be great demands on the budget.”

Alisha Brown
a.k.brown2@student.tcu.edu