Academic Merit Process 2025 for Managers & Delegates

• The merit plans are combined for exempt and non-exempt staff.
• Hourly or salaried equivalents for staff are outlined in the merit grids.
• Reporting allows leaders to report on multiple merit processes in the same report (report name: Merit Process - Employee Details - Shared Participation - UVA - Combined Plans).
• Pay increases not related to merit may be entered at the time of merit via Additional Adjustment functionality.
• Professional Research Staff is included in the Workday merit process.
• A&P Faculty and PRS are in a combined merit plan to account for a different merit increase timeline.
• There is no defaulting of merit percentages / amounts based on ratings. Managers can use the Autofill button to populate the merit increases, if needed.
• There is a Total % Increase indicator on the side panel to show the combined percentage for merit, additional adjustment, and bonus.

• When the merit program is launched by HR, you will receive a task in your Workday inbox.
• Some managers may receive more than one task due to there being multiple merit plans in Workday (see next item below).
• "Favorite" this inbox task so you can find it easily later.

Due to different configuration needs, there are unique merit plans in Workday. For this reason, some managers will receive more than one merit plan notification. Separate plans have been created for the following groups:

• University Staff
• Professional Research Staff and A&P Faculty

**Included in timeline as some divisions may have a combination of employees from Academic Division, Medical Center, or UPG.

UStaff/Classified/A&P Faculty/PRS/T&R Faculty

**Included in timeline as some divisions may have a combination of employees from Academic Division, Medical Center, or UPG.

For University Staff, A&P Faculty and Professional Research Staff, the merit plan is designed to enhance strategic decision-making. Details and local process for merit pools will be managed by your school/unit leadership. Your HR Business Partner is a great resource for these discussions.  

This year’s merit process provides flexibility to each school and unit to decide how merit increases are awarded. Schools and units may elect to use a portion of the salary increase pool for special adjustments, including retention, equity, compression, bonuses, and other critical personnel actions.   

Schools and units may recommend a different pool percentage based on budget. Should school leadership have budgetary limitations requiring a merit pool different from what is reflected above, any changes must be made in consultation with the Office of the Provost or respective Executive Vice President. This approach is separate from University employees who are Classified staff. For Classified staff, a 3% across-the-board increase is allocated for those employees who have a completed annual performance evaluation with an appropriate rating.

No – these employees are hired into the University as University staff. As University staff, employees must be hired prior to January 1, 2025, in order to be eligible for the June salary increases. Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Schools/units should work with their HR Business Partner for any exceptions.

Yes, employees under Contract may be eligible for a merit salary increase.

This employee remains eligible for a merit increase. The employee’s manager should work with their HR Business Partner to ensure that the recommended adjustment takes into consideration current performance in the new position.  

Managers may review the offer letter at this time to ensure that the merit increase was not built into the new salary at the time of transfer.

Employees on leave with pay will be eligible for a merit increase. 

Employees on leave without pay are not eligible for a merit increase. However, they may receive their merit increase after they have returned from leave. Those increases must be submitted to Human Resources for review and manually entered into Workday. 

Comments are not required in this scenario. If an employee’s salary exceeds the pay range maximum, managers have the option to issue a merit bonus instead of a base salary increase. Managers may want to do a post-merit job analysis for such employees to ensure current duties are still in alignment with the employee’s assigned job profile.

Merit increase notes are required when providing an employee with no increase or an increase greater than 6%.  Comments should be outlined when an employee’s pay increase is awarded for other reasons outside of merit. 

No. Merit is awarded for base pay only.

Allowances which are based on a percentage of an employee’s base salary should be reviewed and changed based on the new increase. Changes to allowances cannot be accommodated through the merit process; these must be initiated in Workday separately.

Decisions about merit pool allocation and local process will be made and communicated by your school/unit leadership.

If a manager is not able to complete their merit grid, they have the ability to assign this work to a Workday Merit Delegate.  

Workday Merit Delegates may be selected and assigned this capability in Workday – this may be an employee in the organization who currently holds the security role of Delegate, or a new Workday Merit Delegate may be added via the normal Workday business process. Please see the Merit 2025 Job Aid for details.   

Note that if a Merit Delegate is needed at a certain level of the organization to complete merit grids down the organization, they must be set up as the Merit Delegate for leaders at that level in the organization or higher. Contact your HRBP with questions.   

For Workday Merit Delegates added specifically during the merit process, access will be removed after the merit process is complete.

The Workday Merit Delegate is an employee designated to complete the merit process on a leader’s behalf. This role is not intended to be performed by Human Resources employees for departments other than UVA HR. Merit delegation will only be active during the merit processing period and will be disabled upon completion.

Workday Merit Delegates will have the ability to initiate merit changes on behalf of a leader.  Assigning a Workday Merit Delegate at the highest level will allow that individual the ability to complete the process on behalf of that leader, including a Dean Delegate who may enter for everyone in the school.

The 2025 Classified program will be completed by UVA HR in Workday. A three (3) percent across-the-board increase applies to Classified Staff who have a "Contributor" or higher performance rating. School of Medicine Classified Staff are on 3-point rating scale (like the Medical Center) and all other Academic Classified Staff are on 5-point rating scale. HR Compensation will ensure that Classified Staff meet this requirement and will work with the HR Business Partners directly on any who may not be eligible for an adjustment. 

A three (3) percent across-the-board increase applies to Classified Staff who have the equivalent of a "Contributor" or higher performance rating.

Yes, they will, provided they meet the eligibility criteria. If the salary adjustments will place an employee’s new salary over the maximum of the pay range, the employee’s base pay will be increased to the maximum and the remaining amount will be paid as a one-time bonus.

Yes, they will, provided they meet the required eligibility criteria. If an employee’s salary is frozen at an amount that exceeds the maximum of the pay range, the employee will receive a bonus rather than a salary increase for the amount in excess of the pay range maximum. 

Guidance from the Virginia Department of Human Resources Management (DHRM) states that merit eligibility is based on contributor or higher performance rating. Therefore, an employee is eligible for the 3% merit increase if there is a completed performance review on file with an acceptable rating.

Awarding pay adjustments for employees who have a future dated system termination is at the discretion of the School or Unit. It may be beneficial to the employee to receive their merit increase, if only for a short time.

In general, managers may assume that they can share merit increases after the effective dates for merit. However, managers should check with their local school/unit leadership before proceeding. Effective dates vary by employee type and are listed near the top of this page in the Manager Action Items section.

See the Timeline section of this webpage for employee visibility dates.

Employees will be able to view their merit increase in Workday by navigating to their worker profile and selecting the “Compensation” tab from the menu From there, navigate to the “Pay Change History” tab and click on the most recent merit compensation link to view the details. Visibility dates for employees to see their salary adjustment are listed in the Timeline section of this webpage.

Communication about merit should be coordinated by schools and/or business units. Merit increases should be communicated only after the effective date of merit relevant to the employee’s type.

Effective dates for merit are based on employee type and can be reviewed in the Timeline section of this webpage.

Employees should discuss merit questions with their manager.