You may have heard discussion in your work unit about the university paying a living wage or increasing custodial pay, or may have seen signs around the campus highlighting these issues. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the situation for our campus community.
This past summer, a proposal was brought forward to raise pay for Housing and Dining Services custodial staff. The proposal, however, did not include pay increases for custodial staff in Facilities Management and other areas across campus. Because the senior leadership and I are committed to ensuring that pay is equitable across the university, I have asked that a comprehensive plan be submitted to cover all custodians in the university, not just those in Housing and Dining Services.
To that end, the campus is working on the compensation analysis necessary to ensure the best path forward. It is important that we are fair in our approach to compensation, and that fairness requires we follow a deliberative process and analysis before awarding raises. However, the details of this process should have been clearly communicated to affected employees, and they were not. I take full responsibility for this, and moving forward, I commit that we will provide more clear communications on this process. Our campus Chief Human Resources Officer, Vice Chancellor for Infrastructure and Safety, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs will develop a joint proposal and plan for comprehensively addressing this salary issue, regardless of the unit in which each affected employee works.听
In the next 60 days, that comprehensive analysis and recommendation for moving forward will be provided to me. This analysis will be shared with affected employees. If a compensation adjustment is recommended, consistent with Regent Policy, we will need to review each individual鈥檚 position and salary to evaluate proposed individual increases.听
I want to thank our custodians for the important work they do every day. They make our campus beautiful, keep our hallways, classrooms and campus facilities clean and well-ordered, and they enhance the success of our students and the work of faculty and staff. Those ends are achieved with hard work and dedication, and I want all our custodians 鈥� and the community members they serve 鈥� to know that we are dedicated to them.听