Compensation Philosophy and Guidance

The Division of Extension will operate under the umbrella of UW-Madison Compensation Philosophy:

UW-Madison Compensation Philosophy

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (“university”) is committed to attracting, retaining, and rewarding a highly qualified and diverse workforce, both now and in the future. The university’s job framework and total compensation program support and facilitate these important goals by:

• Encouraging excellence by rewarding individual contributions that support the university’s mission and goals.

• Supporting competitive and equitable compensation practices through a job framework, salary structure and clear and flexible salary administrative guidelines.

• Establishing a foundation for career progression both within and across job groups and sub-groups.

• Developing a comprehensive benefit package that supports the well-being of our employees and is competitive and market informed.

Compensation Philosophy – Human Resources – UW–Madison (wisc.edu)

Compensation Adjustment Guidance

Contingent upon available funds, the UW Madison Division of Extension will conduct a process annually to review and distribute compensation adjustments. This will be in conjunction with our Title Progression application process. Eligibility and application instructions are detailed more fully on the Title Progression Site.

Discretionary Compensation Funds (DCF)/Central Compensation Funds (CCF) distribution, when available from central campus, will be included as a part of this review. Pay adjustments considered will be related to performance and parity. Decisions are made consistent with UW-Madison’s salary adjustment policy. (Note: Equity reviews will be conducted centrally by the OHR Compensation team)

Consideration for off cycle compensation adjustments can be made for retention or other appropriate needs and will be approved by the Dean.

Timeline

(Note that this timeline could change dependent upon annual factors such as announcement of central campus funds for compensation adjustments and any changes will be communicated division-wide)

Summer

At the initiation of the process, a division-wide communication will be sent to all staff outlining the process and specific timelines for each step in the process.

For employees eligible for Title Progression, all base performance based pay increases will be covered through this process. Requests for nominations related to other one-time bonuses or performance adjustments not covered by Title Progression will be requested from supervisors and colleagues.

Non-title review performance increases can be based on:

1. The length or frequency of the outstanding performance; 

2. Overall significance or importance of the employee’s work product to the organization; 

3. Regularity with which the outstanding performance or unique contribution is demonstrated; 

4. Gained knowledge, skills or experience which increase the ability to achieve high levels of performance.

For parity-based increases, supervisors will be provided salary data for their direct reports and asked to make recommendations for parity adjustments relative to their direct reports.

Fall

The Extension Dean’s Team will determine available funding for the Division allocation. The Title Review Committee will provide recommendations for applicants. The Dean's Team will review any additional performance and parity recommendations from across the organization to make final determinations within available funds and balance of other considerations such as market factors and equitable distribution across employee classification and unit distribution within the organization.

Final decisions will be communicated to employees and supervisors.

Grant-funded Positions

Supervisors and Principal Investigators (PI) are asked to incorporate requested compensation adjustments into their grants whenever possible to support maximization of funds and organization-wide benefits related to compensation adjustments. When that is not possible, the supervisor and/or PI should discuss the situation with their Assistant or Associate Dean ahead of submitting an employee for nomination. 

Basic Eligibility

• Faculty and staff must have completed required training by established deadlines*:
  1. Sexual Harassment Prevention training;
  2. Cybersecurity Awareness Training;
• Supervisory staff must be current with their employee performance evaluations.
• Employees cannot be on a probationary period or an evaluation period.
• Employees are not eligible if they have been formally identified as Not Meeting Expectations during their mid-point or summary evaluation.
• Other factors that may be defined by the funding source.

Eligibility will be confirmed by Extension HR. If you have questions about your eligibility, please reach out to hr@extension.wisc.edu.

*Note, additional training may be required for specific position types, but are not checked at the time of pay increases. Employees will be notified by HR and/or their supervisor separately about these additional trainings.