Executives working for province's Crowns to see cut in bonuses
The provincial government is reducing compensation for its Crown corporation executives this fiscal year.
According to Thursday's announcement, Crown executives at the chief executive and vice-president levels will see their salary holdback eligibility reduced by two-thirds.
Holdbacks, which are essentially bonuses, will be eliminated entirely for executives of the Crown Investments Corporation, the holding company for Saskatchewan's commercial Crowns.
“Salary holdbacks are the incentive-based portion of each executive's salary and are a significant element of their total cash compensation. Prior to the change, salary holdbacks could add between 10 per cent and 25 per cent to an executive's cash compensation, depending on their management level and size and scope of their organization,” stated the news release.
The release quotes Don Morgan, minister responsible for all major Crowns, calling the executives “dedicated and committed public servants who do their very best for the people of Saskatchewan each and every day.
“However, we believe that Crown sector executive compensation was simply too high relative to public expectations, particularly in relation to the difficult economic times associated with our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Morgan explained the move further in a scrum with reporters on Thursday afternoon.
“We felt it was the right thing to do, to send a message to people that were supporting all the workers in the province,” he said, noting that the average Saskatchewan worker makes about $56,000, far less than the Crown executives, some of whom make well into the six figures. In 2018-19, for example, the CEO of Saskpower earned $565,291, while the CEO of Sasktel took home $538,307.
As a result of the changes, Crown executives will see their annual cash compensation reduced between 6.7 and 25 per cent, as a percentage of their base salaries. Individual salary impacts will range from a reduction of approximately $9,400 per year to just over $111,000 per year for executives at the top of their salary bands, depending on their managerial level and for which organization they work.
Morgan said the CEOS of the largest Crown corporations are likely to face the biggest cuts to compensation. All told, the province expects total compensation savings to be about $1.82 million per year.
The changes apply to 54 executives at eight Crown corporations including Crown Investments Corporation, Saskpower, Saskenergy, Sasktel, SGI, Saskwater, SOCO and Saskgaming.
Morgan didn't see much risk that the move to pare back bonuses will affect executive performance.
“We expect you to be there, committed to the Crown corporation you work for, committed to delivering solid service to the citizens of the province,” he said.
“Now, I think the people that we have there are some of the finest, hardworking people that are there,” he added. “I don't think it's going to be an issue.”