The University of Colorado鈥檚 performance review and merit cycles will move into closer alignment for most university staff and all classified staff over the next two years.
CU staff members participate in an annual performance review process to gauge their success within their roles, identify areas for improvement and set goals for professional growth.
Earlier this year, the University of Colorado Board of Regents approved a shift in the merit raise cycle to align with the calendar year (January to December) instead of the fiscal year (July to June). This change aligned base-building salary increase decisions with each fall鈥檚 semester enrollment, a key component of CU鈥檚 annual budget.
The merit change date created the opportunity to evaluate performance cycles for faculty and university staff. The state of Colorado determines the merit and performance cycles for classified staff. Classified and university staff will begin transitioning to new cycles this year while tenure-track, teaching and research faculty will remain the same.听
University staff
The current performance cycle for university staff, which began Feb. 1, will be extended to conclude on June 30, 2022.
After that, the new performance cycle will match the fiscal year and run from July 1 to June 30 of the following year.听
Classified staff
The state of Colorado determines the merit and performance cycles for classified staff. This group will also see an extended cycle that starts in 2022.
The current performance cycle began April 1 and will end March 31. Beginning on April 1, 2022, classified staff will have an extended performance cycle until July 31, 2023, which is designed to shift them to the new performance schedule.
Future performance cycles will run from Aug. 1 to July 31.听
Tenure-track, Teaching or Research Faculty听
Even though the CU System administration has shifted the merit cycle so that pay raises take effect in January, the performance review cycle is not changing for tenure-track, teaching or research faculty.听
The Faculty Report on Professional Activities (FRPA) will continue to be due on Feb. 1 each year. Units will conduct their annual performance reviews on their usual schedule. This cycle better reflects the timing of faculty research and creative work accomplishments that figure into the merit review and pay process and maintains the timing of the review of merit. Shifting faculty performance reviews to the summer or as the fall semester commences would interfere with faculty teaching preparations, fieldwork, and vital preparation time for the academic year. In addition, faculty on 9-month positions are technically not on contract between mid-May and mid-August.
Standard tenure and promotion raises will continue to take effect the first day of the fall semester.
Additional communications will be sent closer to the new performance deadlines. For questions regarding performance management, contact hrer@colorado.edu.