Jayhawks Rising: Improving Pay and Increasing Workplace Satisfaction

Dear Colleague,

We are making measurable progress in our Jayhawks Rising objective to Increase Workplace Satisfaction. As part of our effort to ensure competitive pay, we are pleased to announce a pay increase for most KU Lawrence and Edwards Campus employees. Thank you to Governor Laura Kelly and state legislative leaders for including partial funding for pay increases in the FY23 budget allocation.   

Most KU faculty and staff who were in active status on June 30, 2022, including those on leave, will receive a 5% pay increase beginning August 21. The increase will be reflected on the September 16 paycheck. Leaders of affiliate units, such as the Kansas Union and KU Athletics, will determine wages for employees in those units. We will announce pay guidelines for all student employees in coming weeks.

Unlike past pay increases that included a merit component, this 5% increase will not be based on individual employee performance. Instead, we believe the collective performance of all employees over the past 27 months merits an even distribution. Each of you, in some way, went above and beyond to help the university educate and support students and continue our world-class research during an extremely challenging time.

Future Adjustments

While we are pleased with this 5% pay increase, a priority of our five-year financial plan is to build pay increases into our annual budget. That goal continues. As part of Jayhawks Rising, we also are undertaking a salary market study to gather information on any pay disparities and inform plans to move our compensation to competitive levels.

These two steps align with our Increase Workplace Satisfaction objective under Jayhawks Rising, and recognize that faculty and staff are the critical component to the success of our students and our institution.

We appreciate all you do to ensure the success of our students, our academic programs and the research community. Together, we are making progress toward our vision to be an exceptional learning community that lifts each member and advances society.

Respectfully,

Barb, Jeff and Mike

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

Jeff DeWitt

Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance

Mike Rounds

Vice Provost for Human Resources, Public Safety, Facilities and Operations