UW–Madison to implement 2027 compensation strategy
The strategy is intended to maintain market competitiveness, reward and retain high performers, and increase compensation of lower-paid employees.
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University of Wisconsin–Madison leadership has approved the allocation of $12.5 million in this fiscal year to maintain the university‘s salary market competitiveness, and to reward and retain high performing faculty and staff. The funding will also be aimed at increasing the compensation of lower-paid employees, and addressing salary compression and parity concerns.
The central compensation fund allocation includes $7.5 million for base-building pay adjustments for eligible faculty, academic staff, university staff and limited appointees, with the remaining $5 million dedicated to employee performance bonuses. These central compensation funds supplement a 2% pay increase for Universities of Wisconsin employees that went into effect in July 2026.
Implementation of central compensation funds
Each school, college or division is being asked to outline its processes related to employee eligibility and distribution of the central compensation funds and to share that information with employees in their unit. The implementation of these programs will require a collective effort by UW–Madison’s Office of Human Resources, Universities of Wisconsin, colleges, schools, divisions, managers and supervisors.
As with previous compensation plans, units are encouraged to review their budgets and allocate funds to address salaries for positions that are not centrally funded.
To be eligible to receive the base salary adjustments or one-time performance bonuses:
- Employees must be considered in good standing based on position-specific compliance requirements
- Employees must have served at least six months in their current position
- Employees must not be serving a probationary period or evaluation period for performance adjustments
- And employees must have met performance expectations as identified in their last performance evaluation
Supervisors are required to complete performance evaluations for the employees they supervise. Additional criteria may apply at the college, school or divisional level.
Pay adjustments become effective on November 29, 2026. All performance bonuses will be paid by December 2026.
