COMPENSATION
SALARY ADMINISTRATION GUIDELINES
These Salary and Wage Guidelines provide more information about appointment rates for new employees, salary increases
which place rates above the maximum of a pay range, pay upon promotion due to the
transfer or reclassification of a current employee, and pay upon a lateral transfer
and demotion. The original UGA Comprehensive Pay Plan is on file in Human Resources. In the event
of any discrepancy, the original document will take precedence.
More UGA and USG information can be found on these resource pages:
At UGA, our greatest resource is our people. Consequently, we invest more heavily
in people than anywhere else. We strive to maintain competitive wage structures. We
are pleased to have increased minimum hiring and hourly rates on multiple occasions
in recent years.
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As of July 1, 2023, our minimum compensation rates are: Regular Staff Minimum: $33,000 per year (or $15.87 per hour) Student Employee Minimum: $11.00 per hour Temporary Staff Minimum: $13.25 per hour |
As of July 1, 2024, our minimum compensation rates are: Regular Staff Minimum: $34,000 per year (or $16.35 per hour) Student Employee Minimum: $11.50 per hour Temporary Staff Minimum: $13.80 per hour |
STAFF SALARY PHILOSOPHY & EVOLUTION
The University engaged with Korn Ferry Hay Group to complete a review of the current
staff salary administration plan, which lays the foundation for more effective administration
of staff salaries. Learn more about the advisory group's (PDF) recommendations here.
REQUESTS FOR SALARY ACTION (RSA) AND SUPPLEMENTS
A request for salary action is needed at the time of hire if the position exceeds the midpoint for the position, (PDF)or anytime a supervisor wants to change an employee’s salary after hire. Requests for Salary Action can be included in the UGAJobs hiring process, saving you time. You can use the Salary Request Matrix to assist.
RSAs for internal and external hires must be submitted and approved BEFORE an offer is communicated to the successful candidate and PRIOR to submission of a Hiring Proposal. It should outline the specific qualifications of the successful candidate and provide reasons why the candidates’ background and work experience justify a salary above the maximum entry amount for the position. The Compensation Team will review and provide feedback on the requested salary amount so that any inaccurate salary amounts are not first communicated to the candidate. RSA forms for new hires will be given priority and reviewed upon receipt. Approved RSAs are required to be attached to the hiring proposal along with the signed offer letter.
OneUSG Connect: The RSA can be submitted via MSS Adhoc within OneUSG Connect regardless of the reason for request; ie promotion, retention, equity, etc.
UGA Jobs (position evaluation): The RSA can be included as an attachment to the position evaluation (PDF) when reclassifying an occupied position and requesting a proposed salary increase. Simply add this attachment in UGAJobs in the "Supporting Documents" section of the position evaluation.
UGAJobs (hiring proposal): The RSA can be included as an attachment to the hiring proposal (PDF) when hiring an internal or external candidate and requesting a salary above the midpoint (PDF)for the position. Simply add this attachment in UGAJobs in the "Supporting Documents" section of the hiring proposal.
If you need salary approval in advance: If you need to know whether an RSA will be approved prior to your hiring proposal or action, you can submit to the Compensation team. Just email hrweb@uga.edu.
Including these items will help tremendously in ensuring timely RSA approvals.
(1) Divisional signatures (first three signature lines on the RSA form)
(2) Supporting salary data: Depending on what a unit has access to, this may include internal comps for at the division or institution level or external comps. This may include other institutional data, salary data such as CUPA, unique salary data such as data specific to veterinary hospitals, alumni, horticulturist or even external postings for similar positions with stated advertised salaries.
(3) Justification should address:
- Reason for increase; i.e retention, promotional hire, etc.
- How the salary was determined; i.e., salary has been defined as a part of documented and UHR approved career ladder, internal salary data, market, etc.
- Internal equity; an internal unit analysis at a minimum needs to be conducted that
either
- (a) supports the requested salary aligns with similar positions as well as the qualifications and experience of employees who hold those positions, or
- (b) reasoning as to why the requested salary is above or below similar positions and qualifications and experience of employees who hold those positions because and what plans are in place to adjust other salaries. The plan may be short or long term.
- Comparable positions; these may be internal to UGA, USG, or Peer and Aspirants. They may also include positions with a slightly different classification (e.g., 310X00 vs 312X00 and or working title), but the overall scope and responsibilities of the position are comparable.
- When the salary exceeds the midpoint, support for why it is critical to pay someone in the 60th, 75th, 92nd percentile of the pay band.
If you wish to appeal an RSA decision, please email compappeal@uga.edu with your appeal request. If you wish wish to appeal after this conversation, please contact UGA's Senior Associate VP and Chief HR Officer.
Please note: RSAs for internal and external hires must be submitted and approved BEFORE an offer is communicated to the successful candidate and PRIOR to submission of a Hiring Proposal. It should outline the specific qualifications of the successful candidate and provide reasons why the candidates’ background and work experience justify a salary above the maximum entry amount for the position. The Compensation Team will review and provide feedback on the requested salary amount so that any inaccurate salary amounts are not first communicated to the candidate. RSA forms for new hires will be given priority and reviewed upon receipt. Approved RSAs are required to be attached to the hiring proposal along with the signed offer letter.
See also the "Ways to submit an RSA" menu option above, which includes options to
submit directly in UGAJobs for hiring proposals or position evaluations. The "Keys
to timely RSA approval" option may also be useful to you in this process.
FY25 Salary Request Matrix - Coming Soon!
INTERNAL & RETENTION SALARY OFFERS
UGA has established guidelines for compensation offers to internal candidates for staff positions. Guidance on internal offers and retention offers can be found at the links below.
Additionally, the University System Board of Regents (BOR) policy on instrasystem
recruitment outlines procedures for faculty and staff who are considering moving from
one USG institution to another USG institution. The BOR policy on intrasystem recruitment
can be found below.
HISTORY & RESPONSIBILITIES
Please refer to UGA’s Finance and Administration Policy Library for the policy statement and instructions for
processing personnel documents under this authority.
EFFECTIVE JUNE 25, 2018, UGA’s Staff Salary Administrative Guidelines were updated to be consistent with
Board of Regents (BOR) salary administration policy (Policy 8.2.24) and updates to
the BOR’s Human Resources Administrative Practice Manual provided to University System
of Georgia (USG) institutions.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
UGA applies these updated BOR guidelines for promotional increases to new hires and
will now allow UGA units to extend salary offers up to the mid-point of the salary
grade of the job classification of the new hire without approval from the Human Resources
Division. This revision is replacing the current base salary plus 15% exception and
also applies to current staff who are hired into a different position through a competitive search process.
WHO IS ELIGIBILE
Applies to employees who have been hired through a competitive search process. The
salary mid-point revision does not apply to employees hired through the internal PEP
process or the reclassification process.
WHO HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY
Hiring authorities are responsible for reviewing the organizational salary structure
of their unit from an internal equity perspective when determining the starting salary
for a new hire. The hiring department will be responsible for providing required justification
if the new hire salary needs to be reported to or approved by the Board of Regents.
RESOURCES
UGA Staff Compensation Philosophy (PDF)
OneUSG Connect Job Codes, Classifications & UGA Pay Structure
UGA Staff Salary Plan Advisory Group (PDF)
UGA Staff Salary Plan Administration Summary of Recommendations (PDF)
COMPENSATION ACTION RESOURCES
IT JOB FAMILY INFORMATION