2015 EQUITY SALARY ADJUSTMENT FOR UC DAVIS LADDER-RANK, NON-HSCP FACULTY

Plan details for non-HSCP ladder-rank faculty

Overview of equity adjustment approach: Eligible faculty members with off-scale salaries below the mean off-scale salary within their comparison group (see below) are receiving an increase in off-scale salary proportional to the difference between the mean off-scale and their pre-equity adjustment off-scale. The Provost is investing up to 2.5% of the total salary pool within each comparison group to make this adjustment, thereby reducing historical salary inequities within units and bringing salaries for UC Davis ladder-rank faculty closer to the mean for the UC system.

Overview of eligibility: Ladder-rank faculty members at UC Davis are eligible for off-scale salary equity adjustments if they meet all of the following criteria:

• Appointed to UC Davis prior to July 1, 2015 -- Very recent appointees were offered salaries reflecting recent market conditions, and so are usually above the mean off-scale for their “comparison groups” (defined below).
• Having an off-scale salary below the mean off-scale salary for the appropriate “comparison group”. The comparison group is defined in the next section. Salary derived from off-scale components were estimated for faculty at the Above Scale rank (see section 3 below).
• For faculty members at or below the rank of Professor Step 4, having a 10-year progress rate of 0.75 or greater, relative to a normative rate of advancement of 1.0 -- Although the UC Davis equity adjustment is not intended as a merit-based adjustment, this eligibility criterion reflects the fact that faculty members who have fallen well behind normative progress are unlikely to have maintained a market value comparable to their peers.
• For faculty members at or above the rank of Professor Step 5, having a 10-year progress rate of 0.25 or greater, relative to a normative rate of advancement of 1.0 -- Although faculty members who attain this barrier step are no longer required to advance within normative time, high-level faculty members showing minimal progress through the merit system are unlikely to have maintained a market value comparable to their peers.
• Not a member of the Health Sciences Compensation Plan (HSCP) -- Faculty members on the HSCP very rarely receive off-scale salaries, and are instead compensated through a series of salary components related to research discipline, clinical specialization, clinical earnings, and extramural funding. Studies of these salary components are underway and will be completed in Fall 2015.

Details about implementation of the equity adjustment

 1)     Definition of comparison groups

• For most eligible faculty members, the comparison group is all non-HSCP ladder-rank faculty members within their college, division, or school. In some units, however, faculty members are on different salary scales, reflecting market forces in their discipline. For example, a number of colleges have faculty members on both the REG (“Regular”) scale and the BEE (“Business, Economics, and Engineering”) scale. Similarly, faculty in the Graduate School of Management are on one of nine disciplinary scales. In these cases, an individual’s comparison group is all other non-HSCP faculty who share the same salary scale within their college, division, or school. 

 2)     Above-scale faculty

• By definition, faculty members at the Above Scale rank no longer have “off-scale” salaries, and regular, 1.0-step advancement at this rank is generally accompanied by a 5% pay increase. Because the majority of our Professors Above Scale were elevated to this rank at UC Davis, we have been able to closely estimate the portion of their current salary that was derived from previous off-scale compensation (if any). We were then able to estimate for each comparison unit the average proportion of the current Above Scale salary derived from off-scale compensation.
• For Professors Above Scale hired into this rank, we then used each comparison unit’s average proportion of the current salary derived from offscale (as calculated above) to estimate each Professor’s predicted portion of their total salary that would have been offscale had they advanced through the professorial rank (like their other Above Scale peers).  For each of these individuals, that predicted salary portion invariably equaled or exceeded each comparison unit’s mean offscale for the comparison group, so their salaries remained unchanged.

 3)     Split appointments

• Faculty with split appointments across comparison units had their total salaries apportioned to each unit based on the actual percent of appointment assigned to that unit.  For example, a faulty member with a 70% appointment in Unit 1 and a 30% appointment in Unit 2 would have 70% of their total salary assigned to Unit 1’s salary equity pool, and 30% assigned to Unit 2’s salary equity pool.  The amount of their total equity adjustment would reflect a weighted average of the equity adjustments for which they are eligible in each of their respective units.

4)     Procedure for calculation of individual equity adjustments

     A.  Calculate the total amount of money to be used for salary equity adjustment.

• • • • Sum the total salaries in the comparison unit; this equals total salary expenditure (TSE).
      • Multiply the TSE by the equity adjustment factor. UCOP is directing campuses to devote 1.5% of total salary expenditure towards salary equity adjustment, and the Davis campus will augment this with an additional 1.0%. Accordingly, 2.5% of the TSE within the comparison group is the maximum amount of money to be allocated towards equity adjustment.
      • No one will receive an equity adjustment that will exceed the mean off-scale for their comparison unit. However, if 2.5% of the TSE pool actually exceeds the amount needed to bring eligible faculty up to the mean off-scale for their unit, only the amount needed to bring all eligible faculty up to, but not exceeding, the mean will be expended

B.  Calculate each faculty member’s “residual” from the mean off-scale salary.

• • • • This equals the arithmetic difference between each individual’s actual off-scale salary and the mean off-scale salary for their comparison unit (calculated above).  We refer to this as the “residual.”  Every individual has a potentially unique residual, although in reality some will have the same one because some faculty have identical off-scale salaries.
      • A residual < 0 indicates that an individual’s off-scale salary is below the mean for her/his comparison unit; a residual > 0 indicates that an individual’s off-scale salary is above the mean for her/his comparison unit.

C.  Identification of faculty who fulfill eligibility criteria chosen a priori for equity adjustment.

• • • • Residual < 0 -- only faculty members with off-scale salaries below the mean for their comparison unit are eligible for an equity offscale adjustment and hired prior to July 1, 2015.
      • And one of the following hold:

                             i.  Ten-year progress rate = 0 (i.e., are recent hires who do not yet have ten-year progress rates).

                                   ii.  Ten-year progress rate ≥ 0.75 if rank is Professor Step 4 or below.

                                  iii.  Ten-year progress rate ≥ 0.25 if rank is Professor Step 5 or above.

D.  Creation of a “delta” variable for individuals who fulfill eligibility.

• • • • “delta” = absolute value of residual if eligible and residual < 0.
      • “delta” = null if residual > 0

E.  Creation of adjustment weights that are proportional to the magnitude of the residual.

• • • • Sum all non-null deltas for individuals who are eligible for equity adjustments.
      • Divide each individual’s non-null delta by the sum of all non-null deltas (i.e., for individuals eligible for equity adjustments.).
      • Note that weights are constrained to sum to 1. 
      • No weights are assigned for individuals who are ineligible for equity adjustments.

F.  Calculation of each eligible individual's adjustment to off-scale salary.

• • • • Multiply 2.5% of the TSE by each individual’s adjustment weight.

G.  Calculation of each eligible individual's revised off-scale salary.

• • • • Add each individual’s current off-scale salary to their adjustment to off-scale salary to obtain their revised off-scale salary.
      • For ineligible faculty members, the revised off-scale salary equals their current off-scale salary.

 Example of the above “offscale adjustment” algorithm:

a.  Consider a hypothetical comparison group consisting of four individuals with off-scale salaries as follows:

                   i.     Person A         -           $1,000,

                  ii.     Person B         -           $2,000,

                 iii.     Person C         -           $2,400,

                 iv.     Person D         -           $3,400.

b. Step 1:  Average off-scale = $8,800 / 4 = $2,200.

c. Step 2: We assume that all persons have ten-year progress rates ≥ 0.75.  Then only persons A and B are eligible because their off-scales are below the mean ($2,200).

d. Step 3: Compute weights by summing the residual off-scale salaries for all eligible faculty members.  The total required to bring everyone to mean = ($2,200-$1,000) + ($2,200-$2,000) = $1,400.

                  i.     Person A weight         -           $1,200/$1,400 = 0.857,

                 ii.     Person B weight         -           $200/$1,400 = 0.143,

                iii.     Person C weight         -           null,

                iv.     Person D weight         -           null.

e. Step 4: Allocate extra salary. Suppose that there is $1,000 available in the comparison unit for equity adjustment. Then,

                 i.     Person A gets 0.857 x $1,000 = $857,

                ii.     Person B gets 0.143 x $1,000 = $143.

f. Step 5: Resulting offscale:

                 i.     Person A receives $1,857, moving $857/$1,200 = 71.5% of the distance to the mean.

          ii.   Person B receives $2,143, moving $143/$200 = 71.5% of the distance to the mean.

               iii.     Person C still receives $2,400.

               iv.     Person D still receives $3,000.

g. Step 6:  Average revised offscale = $9,800 / 4 = $2,450.

Note that under this system, and assuming that $1,000 is available for equity adjustment, the positionality (ranking) of the faculty off-scales is preserved, and neither Person A nor Person B has moved above the mean.  The most dramatic effect is to raise Person A much closer to her/his colleagues than before.  Person B receives a benefit, but because s/he was so close to (but under) the mean, the effect is much smaller, as expected.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• Will faculty who currently have no off-scale salary component receive any benefit from this equity adjustment?
• The ladder rank faculty salary equity plan will provide faculty meeting the eligibility criteria listed on this web page who currently do not have any off-scale to now receive one. In fact, faculty with no off-scale salary will receive a larger equity adjustment under this plan than faculty in their comparison group who currently have some off-scale salary component. Academic Affairs is working this month to do final computations as to how much individual equity adjustments will be.