30Cheri Stutzman | The Echo
Taylor University has announced one percent wage increases for all Taylor faculty and staff, coming in effect Jan 1, 2019.
In an email President P. Lowell Haines sent to faculty and staff, he announced that the wages of all employees would increase 1 percent this coming year.
Taylor has been consistently giving employees wage raises, for the past five to six years they have been at one percent. As Stephen Olson, Vice President of Business and Finance said, Taylor recognizes that living costs go up every year. They want to ensure that employees are given the resources they need to combat those rises.
Taylor employs about 400 people full time and 200 part time. The budget for these come to about 60 percent of the total budget. Olson said this seems like a lot but employees are the people who make Taylor what it is.
"Employees are what drive Taylor really," Olson said. "They help make this place, which is a good and high-quality education for students."
However, the decision was harder to make this year. Despite a large freshman class bringing in a lot of revenue, there was a slight decrease in returning students and transfers.
But, Taylor believes their employees are an important part of making the school what it is and still decided to provide them with the raise, despite the deficit.
"Increasing wages in the midst of a budget deficit can seem counter intuitive, but we believe that you, the employees of Taylor, are a vital part of securing a bright future for Taylor," Haines said, addressing Taylor employees.
This year Taylor also changed the timing of when they raised wages.
In years past, the raise began the beginning of June. But this year it was postponed until January so the university could calculate how much revenue they would receive from the year. With that information, Olson said, they can make better decisions on what they want to spend money on and employees are one of the things they want to take care of.
Jeanne Sigworth, assistant professor of communication, stated that she understands how Taylor cares for their employees and she knows that they do what they can to make employees feel appreciated.
This is echoed in the email that Haines sent out. He said that they wished to give employees a larger increase if not for the financial context.
"We wanted to provide a larger increase, but hope that, given our financial context, you will still see this as a step of faith and recognition of your continued good work- even in the midst of budget challenges," Haines said to employees.
