Salaries are once again a subject of interest at the California stem cell agency, which is trying to put together a rational pay structure for its employees from scientists to clerks.
This is no management mumbo-jumbo matter. If the agency is to attract the talent it needs, it must be willing to put together compensation packages that are at least somewhat comparable to the private sector. Otherwise it could find itself burdened with mediocrities who will linger for years before they ultimately leave, if ever.
The current salary range under consideration runs from $40,000 to $536,000, based on work performed by Alexandra Campe Degg and Dee DiPrieto. Degg works for UC San Francisco in human services but CIRM contracted with the campus for her as its interim human resources officer. DiPrieto is a consultant recommended by Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm hired by CIRM to find a permanent president.
Degg produced a proposal with 10 salary levels. Under it, the chief human resources officer would have a salary range of $78,100 to $140,600. The general counsel would range from $152,500 to $274,500.
DiPrieto performed an initial salary survey with the promise of more information to come in August for the agency's Governance Committee. The survey deals only with salaries and not total compensation or compensation costs, which are significantly larger than salaries.
Depending on their provisions, fringe benefits and related matters can add 33 percent or more to the cost of an employee – beyond his or her salary.
Total compensation is also another matter. Earlier this year, the agency cited salaries at the University of California as a guideline for CIRM. UC is ostensibly a reasonable organization that does not engage in Enron-like compensation deals.
However, when one looks deeper, the UC salary levels cited by CIRM can be misleading. Actual compensation for some positions can run substantially higher than nominal salaries. For example, some years back the highest-earning UC employee had about a $1 million annual paycheck. He was the football coach at UCLA. Last fall, the Wall Street Journal mentioned the $1.2 million salary and bonuses of an ophthalmologist in 1997, also at UCLA. He left the next year to earn more on his own.
When Zach Hall was appointed as interim president of CIRM earlier this year, some critics objected to his $389,000 salary as well as to proposals to pay other top employees in a similar fashion.
We are not critical of Hall's salary or the pay scales developed by Degg or, for that matter, the compensation of the football coach and ophthalmologist. Talent costs money, and the stem cell agency needs as much talent as possible. One can argue about whether any football coach should be paid more than a kindergarten teacher, but that is a subject for another blog.
The stem cell agency will have to live with its salary scale for many years. They are devils to change, once in place. The agency should be forthright about its compensation rationale and information as well as bonus or incentive plans. If side deals are being cut, they should be on the public table, even if they are not strictly CIRM funded.
Salaries are fat targets for critics. Making it all public and accessible is not only good public policy but one way to avoid accusations of back room deals.
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