Regents approve plan for bringing faculty/staff salaries to market levels
BY AJAY SINGH
Today Staff Writer
The Board of Regents unanimously approved a proposal aimed at bringing the salaries for all UC faculty and staff to market levels, while establishing an orderly, transparent and impartial process for determining compensation for senior leadership.
The proposal approved Nov. 16 calls for a systematic increase of salaries over a decade, from 2006-07 through 2015-16, until they reach market-competitive levels.
“The University of California is at a crossroads,” said Regent Judith L. Hopkinson, the proposal’s chief architect. She said the university’s renowned quality “is at risk,” and the plan to make salaries more competitive is a “key element for assuring that we take the right path.”
A recent study by Mercer Consulting, a private firm hired by UC to review employee compensation and benefits, found that UC salaries lag behind the market median by an average of 15%. However, the entire package of UC salaries and benefits, evaluated together, is close to the market median value, the study said, adding that UC’s active health and welfare benefits exceed the market median by 10%, while UC retirement and retiree medical benefits exceed it by as much as 63%.
The regents also adopted more disciplined procedures for deter mining and setting senior management compensation based on ranges for senior management salaries. The new process strengthens regental oversight of these salaries and helps ensure that UC executive compensation is appropriate, compared to what’s offered in the market in which UC competes. An external consultant will be hired to establish a salary-range structure for senior leadership, which would then be approved by the regents for all UC campuses and positions in the Office of the President.
UC President Robert C. Dynes outlined five steps aimed at making senior management compensations more transparent. UC has been criticized recently for its compensation of university executives and its disclosure policies.
First, all closed-session “salary actions” by the regents will be posted on the Web, “consistent with any applicable confidentiality requirements,” Dynes said. The Web site will also include a forum for public comments and recommendations.
Second, said Dynes, prior to any salary action they take, the regents will be informed of the total compensation being proposed for a position or for an individual. Third, the regents will be provided annually “a single package of information summarizing the total compensation” received by each university leader, excepting senior management of the medical schools and the UC-managed national laboratories. (Pension and medical benefits that are standard for all university employees will not be included in the package.)
Fourth, said Dynes, “we will initiate regular, random audits of the administrative funds, travel expenses and entertainment reimbursements of the president, chancellors, vice presidents and principal officers of the regents.” And finally, he added, “we will explore policy adjustments to ensure greater consistency and uniformity in the use of administrative funds across the campuses.”
Dynes also said he would appoint a task force “that will look into our transparency practices — what we do well and what we don’t do well.” Regent Joanne Corday Kozberg and former Speaker of the California State Assembly Robert Hertzberg have agreed to co-chair the group, Dynes said.
The regents postponed discussion of a proposal to use private funds from donors to help achieve market parity over the next decade for senior leaders whose salaries would exceed $350,000.
In a separate action Nov. 17, the regents approved regular annual merit increases averaging 2.5% for senior UC managers, including Dynes.
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