Dear Staff and Faculty,
This month’s Uplift Valpo update will highlight the progress made during the Year 1 of the Thrive 1 – Caring for Faculty and Staff initiative. The five-year charge of the Thrive 1 initiative is to determine a financially sustainable path for the University to establish competitive salary and benefits, as well as non-compensation benefits for faculty and staff. Performance will be rewarded on a merit-based system that combines salary increases with other growth opportunities, so that faculty and staff feel respected, advance in their careers, and remain with the University.
In Year 1, the committee was asked to focus on the following, which they have successfully accomplished:
- Define the compensation philosophy for the institution
- Define the current compensation gap (estimated at $6-7 million)
- Develop a plan to address the gap (a general plan was created where salary increases would come from a mix of cost of living adjustments, merit raises, and equity raises)
Additional work included discussions with SEAC and Faculty Senate, a campus survey (view results here), and committee meetings. With this campus input, areas of improvement for Valpo’s Total Rewards package were identified. Here are some early examples of this work.
- The fitness center fee has been eliminated for employees effective January 1, 2024. Unfortunately, doing so makes using the fitness center a taxable benefit so there will be a yearly $50 charge to cover the tax on the benefit. As a result, the overall cost was effectively reduced from $180 to $50.
- New faculty received two free meals at Founders. Work is underway to extend the same benefit to new staff.
- Deadline to use Carry Over Vacation Days was extended by nine months.
- Senior Vice President Mark Volpatti recently announced there will be an equity pool in addition to a merit pool for the upcoming raises. This will allow supervisors to begin to address pay inequities in their departments. Supervisors will have discretion on how to best utilize equity funds.
- The President and Board have heard of the need for housing assistance and child care. They have requested a campus survey be conducted to see how many employees would consider utilizing those opportunities. If there is enough interest, they will begin looking into the feasibility of those opportunities.
- Initial work has been done to secure discounts at some local businesses for Valpo employees. Some of these discounts already exist, and the plan is to expand the number of businesses offering discounts.
While there has been some good progress on ways in which the University can more robustly support staff and faculty, much work remains to be done. The Thrive 1 initiative team will continue its efforts to establish and implement the compensation philosophy, reduce the compensation gap, and generate elements for the total benefits package. Their successful efforts will ensure staff and faculty can have the best opportunity to thrive while at Valpo.
A special thank you to Deondra Devitt and Kevin Jantzi for their tireless efforts and work on leading this initiative.
Sincerely,
Kevin Goebbert
Executive Director of Strategic Planning
