December 5, 2023  |   

CIRES’ compensation project has reached a new phase and we’d like to share a quick update before the New Year. CIRES leadership is now working internally with proposed new compensation systems and philosophies; we will next determine budget impacts and sustainability as well as adherence to university policies and procedures. We will provide another update in late Spring 2024. We’re grateful for your patience and help with this ongoing and unprecedented project for CIRES. 

Phase 1 (Fall 2020 – December 2021): A CIRES-led review of existing internal salary equity, per requirements of the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. A more detailed overview of the Phase 1 process, from December 2022, is linked here and below. Our external consultants will complete a final review of internal salary equity, as well, in Phase 2. 

Phase 2 (January 2022 – Fall 2023): A consultant-led comparison of our current CIRES associate and research scientist salaries to relevant external labor market data. This work relied, in part, on the functional titles you and your supervisors provided, to best capture the overall nature of work performed at CIRES. Phase 2 resulted in our external consultant and internal partners (CIRES HR) developing proposed compensation systems and related compensation philosophies to inform how we address compensation at CIRES, including existing employee salaries, new hire salaries, career track promotion salaries, out-of-cycle increase requests, retention, etc.

Phase 3 (Fall 2023 ~ late Spring 2024):  Phase 3 will involve CIRES leadership working to evaluate how each proposed new compensation system would impact CIRES’ budget and compliance; we must ensure we adopt a system that is fiscally sustainable and adheres to university protocols. By late Spring 2024, we will finalize a timeline for implementation of the new system based on budget availability. This will involve discussions with our sponsors. 

Resources/Communications with additional information:  

  • Launch – September 2021, InsideCIRES Blog Post: Launch of compensation review and position description project.
    • Includes links to position description workshops and slide decks launching phase 2 of our compensation review process.
  • Phase 1 completion – October 2022 CMC Meeting Update
    • Presented an update to CMC on the compensation project so that it could be shared further by representatives. Also included Q&A with CMC that resulted in the creation of a public-facing set of FAQs on this project.
  • Phase 1 summary and Phase 2 Plans – December 2022 Update
  • Phase 2 – March 2023 Launch