Nobody picked up on the Alberta Health Services board sacking?

[HiTempguy1]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...h-ahs-hth.html

I have mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, if they had been promised bonuses at the beginning of the fiscal year and they met their targets (which is a dubious claim as anybody in healthcare will say), they deserve the bonus.

Having said that, I know at the arms length gov company I am working at, there was serious pressure from the gov to limit bonuses to non-bargaining employees.

It's tough, but then again, in my uninformed opinion (with most information received from healthcare workers), I don't think AHS was doing a good job anyways... in fact, my opinion of AHS is from the get go it was a boondoggle in the making.

[roopi]

If there are cuts in all areas of govt why hand out bonuses? Don't listen to your 'bosses' advice? Expect to be fired.

[spikerS]

it is a publicity stunt, and they will probably be back on the job by the end of next week.

I am willing to bet the severance packages handed out to these ass clowns are going to be 3-5 times larger than their "Bonus".

Either way, getting 25% of your annual salary as a bonus would be fucking sweet, wish I got that at my job!

[doomdealer]

I'm conflicted on this issue as I see the perspective from both sides.

From the public's side, it's bad optics to be handing out bonuses when the government is making cuts left right and centre to the public service sector.

However, from the AHS's perspective, it's unfair to pull back the bonuses this late in the game when they have already been promised as part of the employee contract.

How would you feel if your boss outlined 5 criterion that you must achieve in order for you to earn a bonus, only then to retract that at the last minute even though you've spent the whole year working hard to meet the required conditions?

I think the problem here is that the AHS shouldn't have set out conditions to pay out bonus to begin with. There'd then be no bonus to retract from the employees, as none were promised to begin with.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by spikers
it is a publicity stunt, and they will probably be back on the job by the end of next week.

I am willing to bet the severance packages handed out to these ass clowns are going to be 3-5 times larger than their "Bonus".

Either way, getting 25% of your annual salary as a bonus would be fucking sweet, wish I got that at my job!

In the article, it states they would NOT be getting paid their severance packages (that is what the Alberta government stated).

However, the healthcare workers I've been chatting with say that is a lie for publicity sakes.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1

In the article, it states they would NOT be getting paid their severance packages (that is what the Alberta government stated).

However, the healthcare workers I've been chatting with say that is a lie for publicity sakes.

Really? I'll have to talk to the nurses in the orthopedic ward here and ask them.

[KLCC]

Smart move again by the PC party. Upcoming litigation will cost us more than the 3.2 millions (saved from pay-at-risk).....

[gamman]

To get a bonus, most of my larger scale companies I have worked at, you require 3 levels of performance.

Corporate (AHS)
Personal (Boss)
Divisional (Calgary or what have you)

In this case it would look something like this.

33.3% (personal)
33.3% (Region - ?)
0% (AHS)

So, you could conceivably get upto 66.67% if you and your region were superstars. Highly doubt region could even get up to 33.3%, but lets say for now you could.

If the board would have acknowledged the minister, and doled out 33-67-75% of the total, then that would have been ok right, look at the reviews above. But they didn't, they approved it 100% (correct my guess), so that is like a F.U. to mr. minister.

I have no knowledge, apart from 660 news. But that makes me an expert, right?

Gerry

[Masked Bandit]

I think it really depends on how the pay structure for these executives was structured. A lot of times the base salary is below market average with performance bonuses built it to encourage quality results. If that was the case then I hope these fired people sue the shit out of the provincial government for violating the contracts they signed. I suspect the bonuses were all laid out in black & white at the start of the year and included in the compensation package. Now, of course if these were just arbitrary amounts that some people came up with as a pat on the back after the fact, well that's a different story.

[geoffreyjames]

They're not employees, they are board members. Therefore there is no severance - it's not just a publicity stunt.

And you should read it a little better, they were fired for not being willing to reduce the bonuses paid out to executives, not the board members themselves. They even refused to cut the bonuses for executives that didn't want them. Which is stupid.