We get a lot of questions about the new Market Equity raises that were implemented this year for the first time. This is a new system and required a lot of back and forth bargaining to get a workable solution acceptable to both the administration and the UFF.
Your bargaining team has put together some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and answers to help explain how the raises will be calculated this year. We hope that this category of raises will be funded in the future to fully address the Market Equity issue.
Market Equity FAQs
- How is the raise amount determined?
It is the result of an equation that compares your salary to the average salary nationally for professors in your discipline and rank, taking into account your history of merit raises and your years in rank.
The national data come from public universities in the “Very High Research Universities” category in the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Annual Faculty Salary Survey, which provides national salaries (not Oklahoma-specific ones) for comparison. Your salary is compared to national salaries for people in your same discipline (called a “CIP code”) and in your same rank.
The Human Resources department establishes your “base equity salary,” which is the salary for the corresponding rank and CIP code from the OSU Salary Survey. Human Resources then creates your “target equity salary,” which is your base equity salary plus adjustments for your merit and years in rank.
Specific elements of the determination appear in FAQs below and in the text from the Collective Bargaining Agreement, available here:
https://uff-fsu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TA-Article-23-Salaries-2.pdf
- Who is eligible?
Almost all tenured and tenure-track faculty who were here as of August 8, 2014. Exceptions are those who have received an overall “Unsatisfactory” rating or its equivalent in the past 7 years, have received more than one overall “Official Concern” rating in the past 7 years, or have had their contract non-renewed.
Specialized faculty are not included and received a 1% across-the-board raise in lieu of Market Equity raises. The UFF-FSU will continue to push for SF inclusion in future years.
- How many faculty members will receive raises, and in what amounts?
About 2/3 of the general faculty (605 people) will see raises, in amounts ranging from very small to $10,000. The median raise for those who receive one will be about $2,500.
- How is discipline determined?
The Provost assigns you a “Classification of Instructional Program 2010” (CIP) code reflecting your major discipline. This CIP code is selected from those already defined for a degree program in your department. The CIP codes were developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode/).
- How does the merit component of the equation work?
The greater your departmental merit and deans’ merit over the past 10 years, the higher your Market Equity raise will be. The merit component consists of the dollar amount of all such raises since 2005 (which is when HR records for merit raises begin). This amount is added to your “target equity salary.”
- How does the “years in rank” component of the equation work?
Having been at FSU in your current rank for longer than the average FSU faculty member of the same rank generally increases the amount appended to your “target equity salary,” which will result in a higher raise. Conversely, having been in rank at FSU for fewer years than average will lower it. As of December, 2014, the average FSU Assistant Professor had been in rank 2.64 years, and the average Full Professor for 11.68 years. For Associate Professors, the average is set at 4 years, and any years in rank over 8 do not add to the “target equity salary.”
- How is the $2 million FSU has committed to this raise distributed across individuals?
Proportionally to the extent to which the faculty member’s salary is below her or his target equity salary, with a cap of $10,000. Because the overall salary equity problem is roughly $10 million, and $2 million will be distributed this fall, faculty members who receive raises will generally receive about 20% of the difference between their actual salaries and their target equity salaries.
- When will raises be implemented?
October 9, 2015.
- How can I see my raise?
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) specifies that Human Resources will provide this information in your new contract or on a form called Appendix G.
- I was promoted to Full Professor effective this August. Will my national comparison group be Associate or Full Professors?
Associate Professors. The date used to determine rank is fall, 2014. Future Market Equity calculations will update the data, and hence your comparison next year and all future years will be to other Full Professors nationwide.
- My unit’s CIP code changed in Spring of 2015. Was the old or the new CIP code used for constructing a national comparison?
The CIP code in effect in December, 2014. In future Market Equity calculations, the new CIP code will be used.
- It looks like the UFF-FSU worked hard to get these raises. How can I be part of this vital organization?