University of Wyoming faculty and staff have not had a pay raise since 2009, and U-W’s new President says that needs to be addressed. Bob Sternberg says U-W has lost important faculty to other institutions and morale among staff is low.
“Everybody knows who has a job that when your morale goes downhill, people don’t do their best work and we have a real serious morale problem here at the University of Wyoming and I’m really committed to resolving it.”
U-W is asking for funding from the Legislature to provide four-percent merit-based pay increases. Sternberg says some top researchers left in recent months and it’s only getting worse.
“You know you can talk about well it’s bad for morale and that’s important, but if every year the number is increasing, and they are your best employees, so you have an upward linear trajectory. That’s a problem. “
Sternberg says every campus group he speaks to brings up the pay issue. He says he’s spent the last several weeks speaking with legislators and the governor in hopes of getting support for U-W’s request.