Overseeing the Compensation and Total Rewards Study are co-chairs Kari Aikins, director of total rewards for UofL, and Krista Wallace-Boaz, associate dean of the School of Music. An additional of UofL faculty and staff members was also selected to serve as the voices of the campus community and provide feedback throughout the studies.

This comprehensive study comprises several studies that assess total rewards- employee wages and employee benefits (e.g., health care, tuition remission, paid leave, etc.). During May 2021, the six-phase compensation study began with the help of Segal, an HR consulting firm with expertise in higher education, and will conclude 18-24 months after the launch date. For a further look into the six phases, visit the .

Findings from the studies will provide the necessary framework for employee wages and employee benefits moving forward. If the compensation study shows a market position at a lower salary grade, UofL will not lower the employee’s salary.

During Phase 2 of the study, the university reviewed and/or developed job descriptions, minimum requirements, preferred qualifications, and essential duties for most university positions. This review ensured that position descriptions were up-to-date, accurate and consistent across all schools and departments, and was essential to obtain benchmarks comparable to similar jobs in the market.

“The goal was to submit job descriptions reflective of the role, not reflective of the employee in that role” said Aikins. “When we’re benchmarking for our compensation structure, we’re benchmarking the positions. Once we have our compensation structure in place and jobs are classified and graded based on comparable market data, we can then review and recommend equitable pay.”

More specifically, said Vice President of Human Resources Mary Elizabeth Miles,  “once we have the baseline data, the consulting firm will conduct a gap analysis that will look specifically at any unintended disparities that may cause women and minority employees to be paid less. These gap analyses will help us honor some of the other commitments made in the strategic plan and our anti-racism agenda.”

The study is now in phase three, with Segal and university leadership working to define a compensation philosophy for the university. This philosophy, developed by university employees in conjunction with Segal, will serve as guiding principles throughout the study.

“Our compensation philosophy will be a high-level statement that outlines our values as they relate to how we will compensate our employees, both through wages and benefits,” said Miles. “A compensation philosophy is needed so that we can establish our parameters moving forward.”

During this phase of the project, employees will receive a brief survey to complete on the university’s compensation and total rewards. A link to the survey will be distributed to all full-time (non-clinical) faculty and staff via email on Feb. 7, 2022. Responses will be confidential, and all are encouraged to participate.

For a description of future project phases, a project timeline and subcommittee members, visit the . Additional information can also be found on the .

President Bendapudi addressed Staff Senators and highlighted recent accomplishments from members of the UofL community. In September, a surgical team with UofL Health – Jewish Hospital performed the world’s first total artificial heart implantation in a female patient, for example.

“In September, the first artificial heart transplant for a man in the United States was performed at Duke University. A week later, the second artificial heart transplant for a man in the United States was here at the University of Louisville. We followed that up by performing the very first artificial heart transplant for a female patient in the world right here at UofL,” Bendapudi said. “I mention that because going forward, I hope I can share these bragging points with our employees because these are genuine, world-wide accomplishments for the university.”

Bendapudi also addressed Staff Senator’s questions and concerns regarding compensation. She said future annual 1% raises for university employees will be contingent on revenue and student enrollment figures. Student enrollment and retention is the largest contributor to revenue for UofL and also affects state funding. Projections estimate that the number of college students in Kentucky will decrease 15% by the year 2025. For this reason, Bendapudi prompted senators and their constituents to reach out and encourage students on campus.

“The best chance we have of our increasing our revenues – the part of the world that we can control and influence – is student enrollment and retention. It is the biggest contributor to revenue and controls where and when we can provide raises,” Bendapudi said. “I believe that everybody who works at UofL should feel confident that every year they will get a raise. To do that, we’ve got to work on our enrollment and retention.”

Vice President of Human Resources Mary Elizabeth Miles informed senators that will be available Oct. 20 through Nov. 3. Employees wishing to make no changes to their plan will not need to take any actions; however, those with a flexible spending account will need to reenroll to retain their balance.

Kari Aikins, director of Total Rewards for UofL, provided senators with additional information on Open Enrollment. Aikens addressed some of the recent changes made to health care plans, including the transition to Optum Health for HRA and FSA administration and moderate increases to vision and dental plans. Senators and their constituents were encouraged to attend one of the four Open Enrollment Benefit Information Sessions offered by Human Resources via Microsoft Teams. Employees who were unable to attend one of the four sessions may view a or reach out to their designated for additional information.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the . The next Staff Senate meeting is Nov. 9 via Microsoft Teams.

Chief of Police Gary Lewis provided senators an overview of the current state of campus security. Lewis reported that the number of security cameras across UofL has nearly doubled over the past year. In addition to the increase in number, many of the new cameras are more advanced and offer a wider range of visual coverage. Lewis also informed senators of the continuing effort to standardize access control among all university campuses.

“On Belknap campus, only about 60% of the campus is access controlled. Health Sciences Campus is 100% access controlled. We’re improving some technologies [on Belknap] so that card readers will be able to provide you with the ability to gain access entry into all buildings,” Lewis stated. “Our goal is 100% access control on Belknap campus similar to HSC.”

Senators were also introduced to Kari Aikins, the recently appointed director of Total Rewards. Mary Elizabeth Miles, VP of Human Resources, informed senators that Total Rewards encompasses retirement, compensation and benefits. Aikins will also serve as co-chair for

Keith Sherman, chief operating officer and executive director of the , provided senators with an overview of the foundation’s record-setting portfolio. The UofL Foundation and the UofL Real Estate Foundation boasted combined Total Assets of just over $1.3 billion, the highest in the history of both foundations. Total Endowment Assets also reached an all-time high at $922 million. The main endowment pool, which serves as the source of nearly all available endowment funding across the university, also reached a record $817 million as of July 12.

Sherman stated, “We saw 33% returns in the stock market through May; for perspective, our goal is 6.2% a year. Over the last year, we’ve returned five times what we expect to get in the marketplace, which is unbelievable. That 33% return for an endowment will probably put us in the top 10% of all endowments across the country.”

Sherman credited the overwhelming growth of the main endowment pool to several changes made by the foundation over the past year.

“We made a lot of changes this year. We changed investment advisors, we changed our investment strategy, we simplified things and sometimes it is just important to be good as well as lucky. We made some good, thoughtful decisions and when the market went crazy after the COVID-19 drop last March, we were perfectly positioned to maximize our returns,” Sherman said.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the .

The Staff Senate will not meet during the month of August in order to provide orientation for the 21 first-time Staff Senate representatives. The next Staff Senate meeting is scheduled for Sept. 8 via a hybrid format with the option of remote attendance via Teams, or in-person attendance at Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium.

Bendapudi informed senators that the university recently received positive ratings by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. These credit rating agencies evaluate several different industries, including higher education institutions.

“We were downgraded by these agencies for a couple of years, but this year, they took notice of the fact that we have stabilized our finances. We took some important corrective measures that we needed to, and I am pleased to tell you that both of them changed the outlook of the university from negative to stable,” Bendapudi said.

Bendapudi also provided senators with preliminary information on budgeting priorities. She asserted that her highest priority will be the restoration of retirement benefits, pending approval from the Board of Trustees. If passed, retirement benefits will be restored to 7.5% effective July 1.

Bendapudi also addressed her priority on employee healthcare, stating “we are making a commitment that there will not be any health care cost increases. Last year, we felt that given everything going on, the university would absorb those additional costs and not pass it on to our employees. So, I am pleased to tell you that for a second year in a row, the university will absorb those increases.”

Mary Elizabeth Miles, vice president for Human Resources, informed senators about upcoming training sessions for the Remote Work Policy. The policy was developed over the past year with the assistance and feedback of several members of the university community, including the Policy and Economic Development Committee of the Staff Senate.

Referencing the Miles stated, “department leaders may offer flexible work options to employees as long as a strong presence is in our classrooms and student-service areas are maintained and the overall operations of our schools, colleges and departments are continued without compromising the quality or productivity.”

The new Remote Work Policy and the Remote Work Agreement will be released on June 1. At that time, employees wishing to work from home may submit the Remote Work Agreements to their first- and second-line supervisors. Any denials will be directed to the department head for final review and determination.

In response to feedback from staff and faculty members, HR will be providing a series of supervisor and employee HRtalks training sessions to review the Remote Work Policy and Remote Work Agreement. All faculty and staff were encouraged to attend the upcoming trainings, which can be accessed from the .

Executive Vice President and University Provost Lori Gonzalez announced that her office is interviewing for a chief of staff to the provost. Gonzalez stated that the position will increase the responsiveness of the Office of the Provost. Four candidates were interviewed for the Dean of the College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, and Gonzalez announced that a decision should be expected in the near future. 

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the . The next Staff Senate meeting will be held on June 8 via Microsoft Teams.

Miles spoke about the university’s efforts to file mass unemployment claims on behalf of employees for the first time in UofL’s history.

“We’ve never done it before and we’ve learned very quickly the ins and outs, in very interesting times,” she said. 

She explained that the state’s unemployment office has been inundated with requests and has struggled with an internal change of leadership and outdated filing systems.

“Apparently the individual process has been even more challenging. More systems have been just completely shut down where people have no way to get in. And the wait times, although they are long all over the place, are even worse,” Miles said. “So I just want you all to know that despite the frustration we have with the mass e-filing process, it’s still in the best interest of our university community and we’re glad that we did it.”

The Human Resources office has been writing daily to the state’s unemployment office on behalf of employees. HR staff have taken measures to stay in close contact with employees, including university text messages and personal phone calls, to ensure time-sensitive actions are completed. They also created a dedicated to all the questions that employees have brought forward during the process.

HR staff ensure every unemployment question submitted to their office gets answered or addressed on the same day. They have worked closer than usual with Staff Senate Chair John Smith and the SHARE committee to ensure employees having a difficult time with the unemployment process receive help.

Senators asked several clarifying questions and inquired about the options for continuing to work remotely when campus operations resume in the fall.

“We are looking at it, we recognize there are lots of people out there who need to possibly have some sort of modifications or need to be able to do things a little bit differently than we did before. And we also need to understand that the university, there’s going to be some things that it needs and we are going to try to balance that.”

President Bendapudi reported on the outcomes of her meeting with the Black Student Union, which can be found here, and she discussed why the university strongly supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

“When we say ‘Black Lives Matter’ what that means is not at all saying other people are unimportant,” she said. “When people say systemic racism, it doesn’t mean you are racist, or I am racist. It says there is something wrong with the system where over time this is happening, and we need to look at what are those barriers and how do we overcome that.”

Bendapudi emphasized that the university’s mission is part of the solution.

“There’s many ways I believe in higher education. I truly believe that higher education has the promise of transforming people’s lives. I would not be here if it weren’t for education. So we have to be true to our mission. I will always come back to ‘let’s educate, let’s do better education, better work, so that we make our local police better and the best practices make everybody better,’” she said.

Staff Senate Chair John Smith reported that the Senate body should put forth a statement of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but that it should have input. Smith hopes for it to be more than words of support.

“We’d like to have a two-week window for [senators] to send us ideas for … changes that we can advocate for from our platform as the Senate as a whole. We would really like the Senate to be an action group in this arena,” he said. 

Smith briefly shared budget updates from the June Board of Trustees meeting. Based on three different scenarios—all in-person classes, hybrid classes, or all online classes— the university is planning for three various levels of impact to the FY 2021 budget.

“The enrollment and state revenue are the two wild cards that we just don’t know, that are going to drive a lot of which one of these three scenarios we fall in,” he said.

Senators expressed concern about furloughs potentially getting extended. Senators requested that data be made available on how many furloughs have been issued thus far and a campus breakdown of where those furloughs took place. Smith confirmed that he will present those concerns in his next meeting with the president. A formal update on the university’s financial situation is also forthcoming.

Chief Operating Officer Mark Watkins confirmed that $27,995.57 thus far has been reimbursed to remote-working employees who requested refunds. Additionally, $36,293.98 worth of parking fee deductions have stopped for all furloughed employees for the duration of their furlough.

Senator Angela Lewis-Klein reported that the Executive Committee of the Staff Senate recommends the 2020 Senate year be considered a “grace year” due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the operations of the Staff Senate. They also recommended the tabling of Senate seat elections, including the officers, until the 2021 Senate year. All recommendations passed.

Committee reports and a full video recording of the virtual meeting can be found on the .

The next Staff Senate meeting will be held July 14 via Microsoft Teams.

Prior to her presentation, however, three academic programs committee proposals were approved by the body:

1. , which would be housed in the College of Arts & Sciences. The program provides undergraduates with certification in knowledge about the unique healthcare needs of LGBTQ populations. An advantage of this program is it would use many resources that are already in place at UofL. It would also be the first undergraduate program of this kind in the country.
2. , which would be housed in CEHD and aimed at preparing postsecondary instructors and faculty members for professional practice related to understanding and managing organizational change within their institutions and units.
3. The final approval went to a new , chaired by Dr. Carl Maertz, with an intended date of implementation in fall 2020. The major provides targeted courses in management, requiring functional knowledge of business disciplines and an internship experience in management.

President Neeli Bendapudi said the acquisition of the KentuckyOne Health Louisville assets is complete. UofL is trying to respect the legacy of these facilities by keeping part of their names; for example, UofL Health – Peace Hospital, and UofL Health – Mary & Elizabeth Hospital. More information about the new names is .

“We are trying to be sensitive to the communities we serve,” she said. “We feel good about turning things around.”

Bendapudi noted that Jewish Hospital was losing about $50 million a year. UofL will receive $33 million a year in funding just for being an academic health institution. UofL is also depending on a $50 million loan from the state to help kick the turnaround plan in place.

“The loan is critical to the success of this turnaround. It will provide long-term stability and continued service,” she said.

Bendapudi added that the risks of not acquiring this system would have been significant. Jewish Hospital, for example, gets about 3,000 emergency visits per month.

“There is nowhere else in the city or state that can accommodate those patients,” she said. “Where would they go?”

Further, UofL’s renowned transplant program would have to close, about 1,900 jobs would be lost equating to about $100 million annually in wages, 60 residents would have to be relocated and more.

“We would have lost faculty and our R1 research status would have been jeopardized,” Bendapudi said. “This adds the best stability for not only our academic and research mission, but more importantly for patient care.”

Several hundred employees participated in the inaugural Cards Come Together event held during Homecoming Week in October. Bendapudi said she hopes this becomes an annual event.

Raise Some L, also held during Homecoming Week, raised a record amount of money – more than $900,000. This compares to the about-$300,000 raised last year.

“This shows a sense of pride about the university and that our support is increasing and that much is a good sign,” Bendapudi said.

Finally, Bendapudi said the Strategic Plan is in the implementation phase. There are three committees each under the Learn, Work and Invest focus areas, and two additional committees tasked with identifying our thematic charges (e.g. aging) and how to best implement our CARDINAL principles.

Provost Beth Boehm also provided a report, noting that we’re struggling with enrollment – a general theme across the country due to changing demographics and less students. This year, for example, we are down by 122 students, which translates to about $1.9 million. One of our priorities is to make sure we aren’t affected by the December to January melt, when some students drop out. Boehm called on faculty to engage with students as much as they can.

“We make a big difference in a student’s experience here,” she said.

Boehm has also charged an advising committee to develop a more coordinated advising system between schools.

“We want every student to have a consistent experience,” she said.

Mary Elizabeth Miles, interim associate VP for HR, was introduced to the body and provided an overview of some of the work that has been done since she assumed that role earlier this year. She said HR plans to administer a comprehensive study of the staff, including roles and salaries, to get a better sense of how UofL lines up with other institutions. She is also focused on increasing communication from HR and has added HR Talks sessions on campus. The sessions will continue to be advertised in UofL Today.

Other reports

The Student Government Association reported that 471 Metropolitan College students took advantage of the priority registration window. SGA will keep an eye on the impacts this initiative has on retention.  

The Staff Senate report from October is .

Elaine Wise, the Faculty Athletics Representative, reported that UofL’s student-athletes generated a

Krista Wallace-, noting that the new committee on student wellbeing has held its first meeting. The committee includes four subcommittees: wellbeing and resilience; suicide prevention; faculty roles; and tool kits for faculty, staff and students.

Also, Sandy Russell has been appointed as interim vice president for Enterprise Risk Management, Audit and Compliance, and the top four candidates for the EVPRI position have been identified and are currently scheduled for on-campus forums.

. The next Faculty Senate meeting is Dec. 4 in Chao Auditorium.