Vacation pay guidelines

At UBC, vacation entitlements are calculated with the calendar year, from January 1 to December 31. For most years, an employee’s vacation entitlement will follow the guidelines according to their employment group.

However, since very few employees begin their employment at UBC on January 1, or end it on December 31, you will likely have to calculate vacation entitlements and vacation pay for partial years in the first and last year of their career at UBC.

Partial first year

Calculate the vacation entitlement based on the employment group, and how much of that year will actually be worked by the employee.  Use the vacation calculation for first year of work described in the respective collective agreement or handbook.  In cases where there is no calculation described in a collective agreement or handbook, prorate the vacation based on anticipated time worked.

Partial final year

When an employee leaves UBC part way through the calendar year, pro-rate the final year’s vacation entitlement in the same way as in the first year, but using the proper rate of accrual based on the employee’s years of service. To this, add any unused vacation carried over from a previous year, and subtract any vacation already taken.

For example, our CUPE 2950 employee from the example above works for UBC for four years, and resigns effective September 30. They carried over 35 hours of vacation from previous years, and has already taken 70 hours of vacation this year: 105 hours/12months = 8.75 hours/month X 9 months worked = 78.75 vacation entitlement. 78.75 vacation entitlement + 35 hours from previous years – 70 hours taken = 43.75 hours of vacation time owing when they resign.

If the employee has taken more vacation than they are entitled in their final partial year, and this calculation results in a negative number, note the amount of hours owing, and Payroll will deduct this amount from their final paycheque.

If employee gives less then the appropriate notice of resignation for their employee group vacation can be calculated according to Employment Standards for their final year. (Contact your Human Resources Representative for assistance.)

Vacation entitlements

For information on vacation entitlements in a specific employee group, please visit the Vacation section of our website:

General Information

Merit and Performance Salary Adjustment (PSA) awards are granted at the discretion of the University when provided for in the annual bargained agreement. The Association negotiates the total amount to be allocated to such awards and the criteria for distributing the awards.

The amount of merit & PSA allocated to each unit is distributed on a pro-rata basis, based on the total academic dollars in each unit. For the purpose of the merit & PSA processes, unit includes all faculties,  Extended Learning, the Library and the Office of the VP Academic.  The allocation amounts are communicated individually to each Faculty by Faculty Relations.

It is expected that the cost of any merit awards or PSA allocations made to members who are partially or fully funded from non-university operating funds will be borne by the non-university funds.

Heads and Directors must distribute the written procedures to all members eligible to be considered for Merit and PSA. These procedures must address the process for Joint Appointments, if applicable. All faculty members eligible for consideration for merit or PSA shall submit to the Head a summary of their relevant scholarly, teaching and service activities and may include an indication of the nature and significance of the activities. After awards are confirmed and implemented, the Unit Head unit must distribute a list to all eligible faculty member of those faculty members who are awarded merit and a list of those awarded PSA (but not the amounts).

Eligibility

All continuing members of the bargaining unit who are active on both June 30 and July 1 are eligible for merit and PSA. This includes members in academic ranks (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Acting Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Associate Professor of Teaching, Professor of Teaching), Librarians, Program Directors and Lecturers, as well as those on Reduced Appointments.  Sessional Lecturers are not eligible for merit or PSA.

To be considered for merit members must have had active service during the merit review year (normally April 1 to March 31).  Members continue to be eligible for consideration for merit awards and PSA while on leave, although leave may reduce the period of review.

Heads and Directors must consult with a reasonable number of colleagues within their unit prior to finalizing the unit’s policy or approach to the allocation of Merit and PSA.  The finalized policy should be included with the  procedures, which must be distributed as per below.  Unit Heads/Directors of faculty members who hold Joint Appointments must confer regarding Joint Appointments. Primary responsibility for ensuring that the process is properly followed for a Joint Appointment rest with the Head/Director of the home Department.

Merit Awards

Review Period: For increases effective July 1, 2025, the review period is April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. 

Unit Value: The dollar amount of the Merit unit varies from year to year. The value of a Merit unit as of July 1, 2025 is $2,557.

Award amount: Awards will be composed of 0.5,1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0 units. In the case of faculty members who hold joint appointments, it's important to remember that if merit is to be awarded it can't be less than 0.5 units in total.

For example if Dr. X is jointly appointed 75% in Department A and 25% in Department B, Department A cannot simply award 25% of a merit unit without Department B awarding 75% of a merit unit. Alternately, either Department A or B can award 100% of merit from their own merit pools.

In assessing merit, you should take into consideration the criteria for appointments set out in the relevant agreement:

• Article 4 of Part4: Conditions of Appointment for Faculty
• Article 3 of Part 5: Conditions of Appointment for Librarians
• Article 3 of Part 6: Conditions of Appointment for Program Directors in Continuing Studies

The assessment for awards shall be based on the duties expected of a faculty member in the period in question, i.e., April 1 to March 31 of the current review year.

It should not be based on activities in which the faculty member didn't have the opportunity to engage. For example, a faculty member who isn't expected to teach but is expected to carry out research and contribute service should be considered on the latter two criteria. A faculty member whose assigned duties consist of teaching and service should be considered only on those two criteria.

When considering teaching performance, the review must be based on formal procedures such as student and peer evaluations. The unit head shall consult with a reasonable number of colleagues representative of each of the ranks in the unit before making a recommendation on the award of merit. Note that this includes instructors and Lecturers where applicable. If the head cannot adequately assess the contribution outside the department of an individual for the purpose of merit he/she shall consult with the dean and vice president academic before making a recommendation.

Merit recommendations should be expressed in number of units and should be entered on a Merit and PSA Summary Form.. .

Performance Salary Adjustment

PSA awards are granted at the discretion of the University when provided for in the annual bargained agreement. The Association negotiates the total amount to be allocated to such awards and the criteria for distributing the awards.

Recommendations for PSA awards are made having regard to overall performance. The factors that should be taken into account are:

1. performance over a period of time which is worthy of recognition;
2. the relationship of a faculty member’s salary to that of other faculty taking into consideration total years of service at UBC; and
3. market considerations.

PSA awards must be based on these three factors and may not be used as additional merit dollars.

In assessing a faculty member’s performance Heads shall take advice from a reasonable number of colleagues representative of each of the ranks in the unit before deciding whether to recommend PSA. In distributing PSA, faculties and departments shall give particular consideration to those who are beyond the career progress schedule for their current rank. It is inappropriate to recommend PSA to compensate for salary differentials that result from the differential award of merit.

Note that normally PSA is not awarded for members in their first 3 years of employment as a Faculty member at UBC.

Please note that the 0.5% PSA allocation for each faculty must first  be reduced by the cost of carry-forward career progress increments and the LOS CP retro units.

The Merit-PSA Summary Form

Each faculty and equivalent unit must complete a Merit-PSA Summary Form for Faculty Relations detailing the merit & PSA awards provided from their specific merit & PSA pools. Administrators produce this list themselves by running the Workday report "Faculty Increase - Merit and PSA Summary Form - Distributed", and download it in Excel.  The report captures eligible members who are active on both June 30 & July 1 of the increase year.  Note that Joint Appointments will only appear in the report that is produced by the Home Faculty.  The non-Home Faculty will need to manually add the person to their report if they are providing any merit and/or PSA.

Administrators enter the Merit & PSA awards being provided from their faculty/unit only.  Each Dean's Office returns the completed form to Faculty Relations in early June.  Departments should not return their individual spreadsheets to Faculty Relations.

Salaries can change for a number of reasons over the course of employment. Examples of salary increases include probationary increases, step increases, and/or merit pay increases.

Click to expand the sections below for more information on starting salaries and salary progression.

Staff jobs at UBC are designated by employee group and then categorized in job families. 

Open the sections below for links to the occupational guidelines or benchmarks for specific employee groups.

Career Progress Increments (CPI) are awarded according to agreed guidelines to eligible members who demonstrate satisfactory career progress.

The CPI unit value for July 1, 2025 is $2,557.

Guidelines for awarding Career Progress Increments

The over-riding criterion for the award of CPI is satisfactory career progress. Members who are eligible, but who are not awarded an increment, are entitled to an explanation, in writing if they so request.

In cases where a faculty member is promoted before receiving all the CPI applicable to their rank, the remaining increments will be carried forward and awarded (to a maximum of one c/f unit per year), in addition to those applicable to the higher rank, until they are exhausted.

Allocation of CPI

Since the award of career progress increments is guideline-driven – see the Career Progress Increments Schedule (PDF) – no special allocation has been calculated for individual faculties. The value of increments has been carefully calculated and it's expected that there will be no scope for the exercise of discretion beyond the guidelines.

Eligibility for CPI

All continuing members of the bargaining unit who are active on both June 30 and July 1, 2025 are eligible for CPI as of July 1, 2025. This includes the following:

• Members in academic ranks (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Acting Assistant Professor, Professor of Teaching, Associate Professor of Teaching, Assistant Professor of Teaching), Librarians, Program Directors and Lecturers.

Note that sessional lecturers are not eligible for CPI.

Members in eligible positions who are hired prior to June 30, 2024 are eligible for CPI effective July 1, 2024.

Carry forward of unexhausted career progress increments

Faculty members who are promoted may carry forward unexhausted CPI eligibility from the rank(s) vacated. Unexhausted increments are to be awarded at the rate of no more than one unit each year.

Please note that any eligibility for carry-forward increments is in addition to the concurrent eligibility for the increments appropriate to the new rank. 

Withholding of career progress increments

Career progress increments may be withheld when a faculty member isn't making career progress.

When increments are withheld, the faculty member must be provided with a written explanation by the head of their department no later than the time when other faculty members are notified of their increases.

Notification: Please provide a copy of this notification to UBC's Faculty Relations department as we are required to inform the Faculty Association. 

"0" increment: When the guidelines indicate that a “0” increment is appropriate, this indicates that the individual is no longer eligible for career progress at the present rank. It doesn't constitute the withholding of an increment.

What happens to carry-forward units: The current salary agreement doesn't permit the withholding of career progress carry forward units. These must be awarded in accordance with the eligibility criteria as indicated above. If career progress increments are withheld, the money will be added to the salary pool for the purpose of establishing the value of next year’s career progress increment. They will not be re-distributed within the Faculty.

Modifications and interpretation of guidelines

The guidelines have been formulated on the assumption of standard career development. They may require adjustment for non standard cases so that impeded career development is not financially advantageous.

For example, this principle would apply when an individual is appointed as an acting assistant professor because of a failure to have in hand the normal appointment qualifications. This should be taken into account in awarding career progress increments when their title is changed to assistant professor.

Similarly the schedule of increments for associate professor of teaching is based on the assumption that initial appointment will be at the rank of assistant professor of teaching rather than assistant professor. An assistant professor is eligible for three increments more than an assistant professor of teaching over the first five years of the appointment, and this should be taken into account in the later stages of the associate professor of teaching’s career. 

Checking career progress and LOS CP Increments

To ensure that the correct Career Progress (CP) and Length of Service (LOS) CP Increments are processed for faculty members in the annual Faculty Salary Increase process, administrators must check the accuracy of the CP data for their faculty members.

CP & LOS CP reports are available in Workday, and administrators will need to run these to check the CP & LOS CP data for their faculty members.

Job evaluation enables consistent and transparent classification decisions to be made about positions, as information is evaluated in the same way within established parameters.

Job evaluation is a systematic process used to determine the relative value of jobs, in relation to other jobs in an organization in order to determine appropriate pay rate, position titles, duties and responsibilities of a position. 

Job evaluation or classification is typically done when a position is new or vacant and a hiring manager wants to ensure they are recruiting for the correct level, or when the duties of an existing position have changed substantially (reclassification). 

Staff jobs are evaluated based on the nature of work, typical duties and responsibilities, decision making and accountability and overall best fit against benchmarks and guidelines related to each employee group. Individual performance and volume of work are not considered criteria in evaluating jobs.

Job evaluation process

1. Create a job description

Create a job description that outlines the specific duties, responsibilities and qualification requirements.  It is important to keep this document up-to-date as not doing so can lead to incorrect classification – we suggest reviewing job descriptions every year. Ensure you are following the different sections of the job description template when creating a job description.

2. Determine classification

Determine the appropriate classification by assessing the nature of work, identifying the employee group, reviewing the appropriate occupational guidelines or benchmarks and determining the best fit. 

Departments can independently classify staff positions in most employee groups, except for: 

• Management & Professional
• Executive Administrative Staff
• BCGEU Okanagan

The job evaluation process for BCGEU Okanagan is slightly different — for more information, refer to the BCGEU Okanagan section of the Staff position reclassification page. 

3. Attach all relevant documents in Workday

For jobs that go to Compensation for review, complete the Position Description Checklist and Questionnaire form, below:

Position Description Checklist and Questionnaire (PDF) 

Submit the Position Description Checklist and Questionnaire and the job description for classification in Workday. 

For UBC Okanagan jobs, submit the position description to Angela McLean for classification prior to submitting in Workday. 

4. Wait for Compensation team to review

The compensation team typically reviews jobs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in the order that they are received.

If you would like your job reviewed on:

• Tuesday, submit your job by 4:30 pm on Monday
• Thursday, submit your job by 4:30 pm on Wednesday

Please note that if the Compensation team is experiencing a heavy volume of submissions, there may be delays in review times — the Compensation team aims to provide initial feedback within 2 days of the job review meeting. Your compensation partner will contact you if there are any questions. 

Retiring from UBC and pension information

There is important information on the UBC Pension Plan website and the retirement page has information on UBC’s retirement and survivor benefits program as well as other retirement benefits that will assist your staff member with their planning.

When an employee provides notice that they will be retiring, cover off all outstanding work-related items prior to your employee's last day. This includes ensuring the return of any UBC property including keys and equipment. Please ensure you review the Offboarding for managers page and associated Offboarding guide and checklist for managers.

Please share the leaving UBC page with your departing staff member, which will inform them of personal items they may wish to look into before leaving the university. In addition, employees can refer to the relevant Collective Agreement or terms and conditions of employment to understand the specific provisions that apply when they decide to retire.

Pension options

Reduced Work Policy (HR9) 

Required resignation notices and unused vacation information related to faculty and staff who resign from UBC.

Staff resignations

When a staff member resigns, they are required to give notice of their departure. The length of the notice time varies according to the employment group.

• CUPE 2950: 10 working days
• CUPE 116 (Regular employees): One month
• CUPE 116 (All other employees with more than three months continuous service or more): One week
• CUPE 2278: 10 working days
• BCGEU (Child Care): One Month
• Management and Professional (M&P): One month
• Non-Union Technicians: Three weeks
• Executive Administrative: Three weeks

If your employee gives less notice than required, please contact your Human Resources Representative to discuss your options.

Faculty

Faculty members planning to resign should provide notice well in advance of the intended resignation date. For faculty who are members of the Faculty Association, resignation will take effect on June 30, except upon agreement with the university for another date. 

Resignation should be made in writing to the responsible head, director, dean, associate-provost teaching and learning, or university librarian.

Student employees

Student employees who are represented by CUPE 2278 (with marker or teaching assistant appointments) are required to give notice of 10 working days.

Other types of student employee appointments are governed by the BC Employment Standards Act. If you have questions around a student worker providing notice, please contact your Human Resources Representative. 

Unused vacation

If a staff has unused accumulated vacation time when they leave UBC, they’ll be paid out for it on their last paycheque.

If they have taken vacation in excess of what they have earned, an amount equivalent to the payment of the unearned vacation will be deducted from their final paycheque.

If you have questions about vacation payout, please contact your Human Resources Representative as soon as you receive the employee's notice.