An email was shared with Deans and faculty members during the week of June 26, 2023 about updates to the Faculty Professional Development Funds program. Additional details about the change are below.
What is changing?
Effective July 1, 2023, the University has decided to discontinue the "borrow ahead" practice, which previously enabled faculty members to borrow against their future professional development entitlements for up to a maximum of four years ($1,700 per future year x 4 years = $6,800).
Why has the borrow ahead practice been discontinued?
The borrow ahead practice has been discontinued in order to promote financial stability, increase transparency, and streamline our existing practices and processes.
What is staying the same?
As per the collective agreement, the current professional development entitlement amount of $1,700 per year remains unchanged, and faculty members will still be able to carry forward their unused accrued PD entitlements for up to five years, inclusive of the current year.
What will the change look like in Workday?
By discontinuing the borrow ahead practice, the "total eligible amount" of PD funds displayed in Workday (found under menu -> expenses -> reimbursable allowance plan activity) will solely reflect earned PD entitlements rather than a combination of earned entitlements and funds available to borrow from future entitlements.
When will the change take place in Workday?
Update: Originally, we stated that the accurate PD entitlements would be reflected in Workday on July 14th; however, the accurate entitlements were available as of July 7th.
All faculty members must wait until July 7th to confirm their accurate PD entitlement amount in Workday for the 2023-2024 (July 1, 2023 to June 30th, 2024) funding year.
The borrow ahead practice will be discontinued as of July 1, 2023. However, the corresponding adjustment to faculty members' PD entitlement amount in Workday will not be accurately reflected until July 7th. This delay is due to the completion of several transitional processes associated with this change, scheduled to take place between July 1st and July 7th.
This means that from July 1 to July 6, the faculty member’s PD entitlement amount displayed in Workday under the “reimbursable allowance plan” will not be an accurate value as it will not yet include the $1700 entitlement amount earned for the 2023-2024 funding year and further it will be overstated in many cases as it still will include future borrowable funds.
How will a faculty member know if they have already borrowed ahead?
If you are a faculty member who has already borrowed ahead against your future PD entitlement amounts before the implementation of this change on July 1, 2023, you will receive an email statement from Human Resources between July 10th and July 14th. This email will confirm your borrowed ahead amount.
What happens if a faculty member already borrowed ahead PD funds from future entitlement amounts?
For faculty members who have already borrowed against their future PD entitlements, these funds will continue to be recuperated from their future PD entitlements as planned, for up to two years at a rate of $1700 per funding year ($1,700 x 2 years = $3,400 maximum).
This means some faculty members will not have available PD Funds for the next two funding years of 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, depending on the amount previously borrowed.
Important note: For faculty members who have borrowed more than $3,400 in future PD entitlements, (which is in excess of two years of future entitlements), the amount exceeding $3,400 has been forgiven by the University and will not be recuperated out of future PD entitlements earned in years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.
CAN YOU PROVIDE SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW BORROWED FUNDS WILL BE RECOVERED?
For those faculty who have borrowed ahead prior to July 1, there are three funds recovery scenarios:
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