Guidance on hiring and compensation increase pause
This webpage provides guidance on recruitment, hiring and compensation procedures for all staff, student and academic student positions across all departments, regardless of funding source.
On March 7, 2025, the University instituted a pause on the following employment activities for all positions not deemed essential by the unit’s Dean, Chancellor (or designee), or Cabinet level official. “Essential” refers to positions that are mission-critical to university academic, administrative, and clinical operations. This pause restricts:
- Hiring employees.
- Creating new staff positions.
- Providing in-grades, temporary pay increases or other ad hoc salary increases.
- Extending employment duration of limited-term positions including professional staff temporary positions and nonpermanent hourly and nonpermanent fixed duration positions.
Executive leadership is continuously assessing the status of federal and state funding changes and will notify departments if the pause is lifted or adjusted, along with guidance on resuming regular employment activities and practices.
Process for requesting exceptions
Department requests for exceptions must be approved by the unit’s respective Dean, Chancellor (or designee), or Cabinet level official to support employment activities for positions deemed essential. Requests must include documented justification supporting the critical hiring or employment activity exception.
UWHR will confirm that all requests have received Dean, Chancellor (or designee), or Cabinet level official approval prior to transacting exceptions as part of the normal process for the respective employment activity.
Hiring pause
Recruitments that were already underway as of March 7, 2025 were authorized to continue if the unit’s Dean, Chancellor (or designee), or Cabinet level official deemed them to be essential. Until the hiring pause is lifted, departments should not open new recruitments unless it is determined that the position is essential.
Open recruitments with extended offers:
For positions that have been extended offers prior to the pause, hiring will continue as planned unless funding issues arise. If an extended offer is declined, authorization to move to a subsequent candidate must be reviewed and approved by a Dean, Chancellor, or Chancellor’s designee.
Open requisitions not deemed essential:
Positions with open recruitments that are not deemed essential but for which the position is not being eliminated should be put on hold as follows:
1. Hiring managers should inform their Recruiting Office Partner that the position with the open recruitment should be paused and the requisition placed on a freeze in Workday.
2. Your Recruiting Office Partner will manage open requisitions in Workday using the most specific reason code that matches the situation:
- Federal: Loss/reduction of funding
- Federal: Indirect impact from loss/reduction of funding
- State: Loss/reduction of funding
- State: Indirect impact from loss/reduction of funding
Requisitions frozen for more than 60 days will be closed. No frozen requisitions will be converted as part of Workday Recruiting.
Closing, freezing and requesting positions
All vacant positions that are not deemed essential and do not have a requisition should be frozen in Workday if the position will be filled in the future, or closed if the position has been eliminated. New positions should not be created and submitted to the Compensation office for review unless they are deemed essential.
Freezing positions
Vacant positions without a requisition can be frozen if your department hopes to fill the position at a future date. Use the Manage Position Freeze business process in Workday and select the most specific reason code that matches the situation:
- Federal: Loss/reduction of funding
- Federal: Indirect impact from loss/reduction of funding
- State: Loss/reduction of funding
- State: Indirect impact from loss/reduction of funding
Use the “Hold for organization structure review” if you are evaluating all positions to determine next steps. Avoid using the reasons, “Budgeted recruitment not authorized, “Budget freeze,” and “Employee temporarily reassigned.”
Closing positions
A position should only be frozen in Workday if it is reasonably expected to be filled in the future. If the position is vacant and there are no foreseeable plans to refill it, it should be closed in Workday through the Close Position business process and selecting the most specific reason code that matches the situation:
- Federal: Loss/reduction of funding
- Federal: Indirect impact from loss/reduction of funding
- State: Loss/reduction of funding
- State: Indirect impact from loss/reduction of funding
Salary increases
Salary increase requests should not be submitted unless they are deemed essential for retention purposes or organizational success. For requests in progress, the Compensation Office will reach out to confirm that the unit’s Dean, Chancellor (or designee), or Cabinet level official has approved.
Managing position end date extensions
Limited term positions such as professional staff temporary positions (PSTP), nonpermanent hourly and nonpermanent fixed duration positions should not be extended unless they are deemed essential. Extension requests for positions exempt from the employment activity pause should continue to fall within the position management policy requirements.
Follow the Process for Requesting Exceptions if you believe that a position extension is essential.