No raises for employees this year as hospital deals with coronavirus

Employees at UCHealth won’t be getting a raise this year after the pandemic caused a major financial hit, though they might still receive a one-time bonus.

Typically, employees are eligible for an annual raise that becomes part of their new base pay, but the system has had to cut that this year to help make up for lost revenue, UCHealth spokesman Dan Weaver said. The raise is based on cost of living increases, what similar workers in the Denver area are paid and each employee’s performance, he said.

Weaver estimated UCHealth lost about $176 million in revenue in March and April because most procedures that weren’t emergencies were canceled or postponed. The $2.2 trillion federal coronavirus relief bill provided about $97.5 million to UCHealth, which softened the financial blow but didn’t eliminate it, he said.

The amount of the raise isn’t released until fall and doesn’t hit paychecks until December in ordinary years, he said, so employees likely haven’t built it into their budgets.

The one-time bonus might be available at the end of the year, Weaver said. The system’s board of directors usually meets over the summer to shape the bonus program, based on the system’s financial performance, the number of adverse events such as infections and performance metrics for different types of employees, he said.

“Our goal is still to provide a bonus to all eligible employees as we usually do,” he said.