Effort and Effort Reporting

Definitions

Regardless of the number of hours a faculty member or other grant staff works in a typical week, the sum of all activities must add up to 100%. Faculty are not hourly employees; they are salaried employees. Appropriately certified effort reports provide auditable documentation to demonstrate to the University’s research funders that the sponsor did in fact receive the level of effort described and expected through the proposal process, the award process, and all post award communication with the sponsor. Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.430 (h) (8) provides the framework for internal controls required when documenting salaries and wages for effort of employees on federally sponsored project

Faculty members are responsible for teaching, administration, or other Kean activities that would preclude them from devoting 100% of their time to sponsored activities. Individuals completing effort reports are required to identify other areas where they provided effort, with or without salary support, and to ultimately report the appropriate distribution of effort over all activities. Outside consulting, and supplement payments (honoraria) are not included under Kean employment.

No employee can have more than 100% effort, so all salaries are converted to a 12-month equivalency, and then a percentage, for monitoring and reporting. For instance, a 10-month faculty salary of $100,000 would be “equivalent” to $120,000 if they worked (and were paid) for 12-months.

• 12-month Faculty or Staff – employees in this category do not have set teaching responsibilities as they hold administrative roles for 100% effort.
  • If 12-month staff have some % of effort on a grant, that portion of their salary returns to the departmental salary account.
  • If 12-month faculty have some % of effort on a grant, the equivalent salary amount is deposited into a research reinvestment account (see guideline AA02)
• 10-month Faculty – employees in this category have a salary based on 10 months of employment. Any work done in the remaining two (summer) months is paid as overload via a non-teaching contract. During the 10-month academic year, faculty effort is distributed as follows:
  • 12 credits of teaching in the fall semester
  • 12 credits of teaching in the spring semester
  • Service activities or administrative tasks in the fall semester
  • Service activities or administrative tasks in the spring semester
  • They have 2 summer months available to receive additional salary for teaching, conducting research, mentoring, etc.
• Lecturers – employees in this category have a salary based on a 12-month contract and are required to teach 36 credits* throughout the calendar year, but no service is required. If they are written into a grant, their only option is to buy-out of teaching (with permission) to show effort on the sponsored award. They cannot receive research investment funds or additional salary.

Once a sponsored award is accepted, the University is committed to providing the level of effort expressed in the notice of award. A decrease in the level of committed effort of 25% or greater for federal awards must be authorized by the sponsor. Please consult ORSP or the agency guidelines for further direction. The University must monitor whether it is meeting the level of effort it committed to in the proposal and award process.

Kean requires at least a 2% FTE commitment (or the minimum required by the program) on the part of the Principal Investigator (PI) and other key personnel during the period of the project. This minimum requirement does not apply to equipment grants, training grants, travel grants, or conference grants.

This policy requires that faculty certify their own effort except in limited circumstances. For other people paid by sponsored funds (e.g., students, lab staff), effort reports must be certified by a responsible supervisory official having firsthand knowledge of all the activities performed by the employee. Certified effort forms assert that the information represented is to the best of the certifier’s knowledge, accurate and complete.

Changes to a certified effort form are not allowed except in extremely limited circumstances, which require extensive documentation as to why the effort was originally certified incorrectly and approval of the CFO’s office.

Certification must occur semi-annually for the 6-month periods ending June 30 and December 31.

The following individuals do not need to complete an effort report even if they work in a department that conducts sponsored activities:

1. Personnel paid hourly who complete auditable timesheets in Workday adhering to effort requirements, and
2. Pre- and post-doctoral individuals supported 100% by a fellowship (stipend) with no additional employment compensation.

Payroll and effort distributions are not the same thing; payroll distributions describe the allocation of an individual salary, while effort distributions describe the allocation of an individual’s activity to individual projects “independent of salary.”

Contact

Office of the Vice President for Research

orsp@kean.edu