After two years of hard work, the Administrative Professional Council achieved a longtime goal: for CSU to implement a new living wage for the lowest-paid employees, increasing the baseline annual salary to $30,000. 

This initiative was a collaboration between Vice President for University Operations Lynn Johnson, Associate Vice President for Human Capital Diana Prieto, the Classified Personnel Council, Administrative Professional Council and Faculty Council. A remarkable 385 total employees directly benefited from this change. 

“From my perspective, this initiative definitely embodied the true meaning of collaboration on our campus and was a great example of doing good things for good people, which is what APC is all about,” said Shannon Wagner, chair of the APC.

The need for increased salaries was emphasized during the Fall 2018 Campus Climate Survey, in which “lower salaries” was one of the top four work-related stressors as reported by CSU employees. Additional stressors included workload, lack of growth/promotion, and work-life balance. 

The APC listened to this feedback and has been actively working to increase employee satisfaction and retention. A few specific initiatives from the 2018-19 year include:  

• Exploring stronger professional development tracks and opportunities, including increased supervisor support for flex scheduling

• Support of CSU HR’s AP Framework and Compensation Project, which will help create more consistency in compensation for APs across various departments

• Advocating for investing in a long-term budgetary and infrastructure plan to increase staffing to central support units to meet employee needs

Are you interested in adding your voice to these important CSU discussions? Learn how you can get involved with the APC online at ap.colostate.edu.