Annual salary increases for CIRES employees have been approved by CU Boulder campus HR and are effective January 1, 2025; they will be reflected on your January paycheck. The information below outlines the specifics of these increases for different employee groups at CIRES.
For Research and Teaching Faculty:
The Board of Regents approved a base building 4% merit pool for eligible teaching faculty and research faculty (associate and research scientists in non-administrative positions). A merit increase is tied to performance from this past performance cycle, July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
This year, CIRES determined merit allocations based on performance rating, and these allocations serve as salary-base building increases. Allocations were determined at the institute level (not at the unit or lab level as in previous years). The goal of this approach is to better ensure a transparent and equitable approach to the merit process for eligible employees, which aligns with our CIRES compensation philosophy as well as university-preferred protocols.
The following increases have been approved by CU Boulder HR and the Research and Innovation Office.
2025 Merit Allocations for Eligible Research Faculty:
These Increases will be supported by the employee’s current funding source.
- Merit Ratings of “3 – Meets Expectations” = 3.564% increase
- Merit Rating of “4 – Exceeds Expectations” = 4% increase
- Merit Rating of “5 – Far Exceeds Expectations” = 4.4% increase
2025 Merit Allocations for Eligible Teaching (TTT) Faculty:
The source of funds for these increases are the faculty merit pool that has been allocated to CIRES, which has been adjusted to address some compression and inequity issues.
- Merit Ratings of “3 – Meets Expectations” = 3.5% increase
- Merit Rating of “4 – Exceeds Expectations” = 3.7% increase
- Merit Rating of “5 – Far Exceeds Expectations” = 4% increase
2025 Across-the-Board Increase for University Staff and CIRES Administrative Positions (largely housed in CIRES Communications, DEI, Finance, HR, IT, and Operations):
For university staff, which is a campus designated employee group, campus approved a 4% across-the-board increase for eligible employees receiving a “3 – Meets Expectations” rating or above. This 4% increase also applies to eligible research staff in administrative roles.
Eligible employees include:
- Active, regular (not temporary or working retiree) teaching faculty, research faculty or university staff with an appointment on the effective date (January 1, 2025) and who have a completed performance evaluation for the most recent performance cycle with a rating of meeting expectations or higher (3, 4, or 5)
- New hires whose appointments were in effect on or before September 1 who were not eligible to participate in the most recent performance evaluation cycle
- Employees who received a base compensation increase effective on or before November 15, if the above performance criteria are also met (meeting expectations or higher), and unless specified otherwise in the terms of an offer letter, MOU, or addendum.
Eligible employees will see their new salary in the January 2025 paychecks. They will also receive an individual email notification in late January from campus HR confirming their new salary amount. To view your new salary, go to insideCIRES and click on the “My CIRES Information” box at the upper right. Your new salary will be listed under the CIRES Salary/Compensation section.
Ineligible employees include:
- Regular employees hired, promoted, transferred, or who receive other base compensation changes effective after November 15; hiring units have been advised to plan accordingly in these cases.
- Retirees and temporary employees
This is the latest in a series of actions taken by CIRES and CU to increase employee compensation. A history of those actions taken since 2021 is available here.
