"Today we further recognize the crucial work our employees undertake every day by demonstrating all members of the Auburn Family are valued and their efforts are appreciated."

-Dr. Jay Gogue, Auburn University President

Auburn University will offer a minimum hiring rate of $14.50 to all administrative professionals and staff full-time employees, effective Jan. 1, 2022. The minimum hiring rate, which doubles the federal minimum wage of $7.25, ensures that all eligible full-time employees will earn at or above the 2021 generally accepted living wage for Lee County. Eligible part-time employees will also see a rate increase to $14.50.

Auburn’s new minimum hiring rate is a giant step toward pay practice sustainability. It enhances the University’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. A competitive wage will help Auburn continue to recruit and retain top talent.

“I am proud that Auburn is able to make this commitment to our employees,” President Jay Gogue said. “Today we further recognize the crucial work our employees undertake every day by demonstrating all members of the Auburn Family are valued and their efforts are appreciated.”

Auburn’s new minimum hiring rate will positively impact more than 200 eligible full-time and part-time employees. A regular full-time employee’s annualized base salary will increase to $30,160. When benefits are included, the annualized value of the base pay and benefits package will ensure that those employees are earning at or above the living wage for Lee County. Employees who make at or slightly above Auburn’s minimum hiring rate may also receive an increase to recognize their continued service and to keep pace with those receiving a salary adjustment.

Over the last few years, Auburn took intentional steps to review and adjust pay and benefits packages to ensure employees are appropriately recognized for their extraordinary contributions to the Auburn Family.

“In 2016, we took major steps towards creating a sustainable total compensation program at Auburn,” said Karla McCormick, Auburn’s associate vice president of Human Resources. “We secured annual funding to purchase salary surveys to help inform us about market competitive rates for our positions. We began using Pay Evaluator© as a tool for making objective, unbiased decisions about salaries for our employees, and implemented salary alignment processes to fix salary inequities that are created when someone new is hired into a position. Additionally, we worked with Staff Council in 2020 to equalize annual leave accrual for staff employees. We are very excited to be at the point that we can take this next step for our employees.”

There will be no impact on student tuition or fees as a result of the pay increase. The cost will be covered through a combination of expected budgetary savings and reallocation of resources.

Auburn University Human Resources, along with well over 100 campus stakeholders, is finalizing a two-year long major compensation study with the internationally respected consulting firm, Mercer. A final report summarizing the study’s results will be submitted to senior leadership this fall. The data will be used for short- and long-term planning. 

Auburn University at Montgomery has aligned a similar strategy for its full-time employees and is sharing information with the AUM campus.

Details concerning the Mercer project and the implementation of the minimum hiring rate will be coming soon. Please visit aub.ie/MHR for additional information about the minimum hiring rate.

If you have questions, please email univhr@auburn.edu.

FAQs

Below you will find answers to commonly asked questions about the increase. Please email univhr@auburn.edu if you have additional questions. 

  • Full-time and part-time regular employees at Auburn University are eligible. 

  • Employees who are not eligible include Faculty, Temporary Employees and Student Employees. 

Auburn’s new minimum hiring rate will positively impact over 200 regular full-time and part-time employees. This does not include any additional employees who may receive increases due to compression. (See Question 4.)

Auburn University is committed to pay practice sustainability. Using a calculator developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Auburn’s new Minimum Hiring Rate, plus the value of benefits provided by the University, will ensure that all eligible full-time employees earn at or above the 2021 generally accepted living wage for Lee County.

  • An eligible full-time employee’s annualized base salary will increase to $30,160.

  • When benefits are included, the annualized value of the base pay and benefits package will ensure that those employees are earning at or above the living wage for Lee County.

Auburn’s new minimum hiring rate is a giant step toward pay practice sustainability. It enhances our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. It will also help us continue to recruit and retain top talent.  

Employees who make at or slightly above Auburn’s minimum hiring rate may also receive an increase to recognize their continued service, and to keep pace with those who will receive an adjustment to the Minimum Hiring Rate. Additional information will be shared with these employees and their supervisors.

By Oct. 31, AUHR will draft and provide letters to departments to share with their impacted employees. As warranted, we will share additional information with departmental leadership, supervisors and HR Liaisons.

  • Affected employees who are paid on a biweekly schedule will see the increase in their Jan. 7, 2022 paycheck.

  • Affected employees who are paid on a monthly schedule will see the increase in their Jan. 31, 2022 paycheck.

Changes will be entered programmatically by AUHR.

For salaries that are unrestricted, auxiliary or funded by gifts, units should utilize cumulative reserves or cost savings during the fiscal year to fund the nine months of additional salary and benefit costs. It is expected that there will be future savings in fringe benefit costs that will help with some of the long-term funding needs, but all units should plan for this increase as a part of their FY23 budget preparation.

For salaries that are at least partially funded on existing or proposed contracts/grants, central administration will review requests for additional funding on a case-by-case basis. Any future grants should account for the changes in the proposal.     

In 2016, Auburn University took major steps towards creating a sustainable total compensation program:

  • We purchased salary surveys to help inform us about market competitive rates for our positions.

  • We began using Pay Evaluator© as a tool for making objective, unbiased decisions about salaries for our employees, and implemented salary alignment processes to fix salary inequities that are created when someone new is hired into a position.

  • We also worked with Staff Council in 2020 to equalize annual leave accrual for staff employees.

AUHR, along with well over 100 campus stakeholders, is now finalizing a two-year long major compensation study with the internationally respected consulting firm, Mercer. A final report summarizing the study’s results will be submitted to senior leadership this fall. The data will be used for short- and long-term planning. 

If you have questions about the content in these FAQs please contact AUHR at univhr@auburn.edu.

Last updated: 08/24/2023