State audit slams Cal Poly for management pay and hiring

April 24, 2017

An audit of the California State University system singles out Cal Poly several times over its practices of hiring unnecessary management personnel and increasing their pay, sometimes in violation of state regulations and CSU policy.

At the request of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the California State Auditor conducted an audit of the CSU system focusing on growth in management personnel, pay raises for executives and oversight and accountability of the system’s budget. Auditors found the addition of management staff and the pay increases they receive outpace the hiring of other CSU employees and the raises they are given.

The state auditor concluded stronger oversight is needed for hiring and compensating management personnel.

In a letter to the governor and legislative leaders, State Auditor Elaine Howle summarizes the findings in the audit. The first paragraph of Howle’s letter singles out Cal Poly for granting raises to management personnel that were not warranted by current written performance evaluations.

Last year, Cal Poly increased the pay of at least 70 management personnel who either had no written performance evaluations on file or who had outdated evaluations on file. The 70 management employees will receive a combined total of more than $175,000 annually in pay increases that are not backed by current written evaluations, according to the state audit.

Cal Poly’s associate vice president for human resources told state auditors the university granted the raises because human resources staff felt it was unfair to penalize management personnel who did not receive timely performance evaluations from their supervisors. Still, the raises did not comply with state regulations and CSU policies and some pay increases may have been undeserved, the audit report states

The audit report also notes, between 2007 and 2016, Cal Poly nearly tripled the number of management personnel in the area of student services by adding 23 positions. Cal Poly did not provide adequate justification for the added management staffers, according to the audit.

Cal Poly added six management personnel to support the extension of its housing program. But, the university did not provide any evidence that it performed a staffing analysis to demonstrate that all six positions were necessary to support the growth of the program, the audit states.

In all, Cal Poly added 83 management positions between 2007 and 2016, increasing the number of its management personnel from 168 to 251.

Furthermore, the audit suggests Cal Poly appears to be breaking CSU policy on employee relocation reimbursement benefits. The university only requires that relocation reimbursements be approved by a dean or a vice president.

CSU policy, however, requires that campuses establish monetary thresholds for relocation reimbursements, requiring approval from higher levels of authority based on the amount of money allocated. As an example, the CSU guidance suggests requiring presidential approval for relocation reimbursements exceeding $10,000.

When Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong arrived in San Luis Obispo, he was reimbursed a total of $49,626 for relocating to the Central Coast, according to the audit. As university president, Armstrong receives more than $450,000 a year in total pay and benefits.

In recent years, Cal Poly’s faculty union has protested the pay discrepancy between administrators and teachers. CSU faculty statewide threatened to go on strike prior to agreeing to a 10.5 percent pay increase last April.