Canada to Tie Civil Service Bonuses to Their Success in Cutting Budgets

Discussion in 'Economics' started by Kassz007, Oct 7, 2011.

  1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...servant-performance-pay-to-spending-cuts.html

    Canada to Tie Civil Service Bonuses to Their Success in Cutting Budgets


    Good idea or bad? I like the effort to give incentives to cutting waste, but worry slightly that some necessary services will get cut just to fatten some politicians bonus. What do you think?
     
  2. achilles28

    achilles28

    I'm no expert on the topic, but I think the problem comes down more to wages and bennies, and to a lesser extent, fraud and waste.

    Torontos Mayor Rob Ford campaigned on cutting pork. And when he got to City Hall, there wasn't much to cut, despite Toronto running a major deficit (hundreds of millions, per year). The problem is salaries, benefits and pensions. They take up a shitload of the budget and get contracted in. So even when they want to cut, often, there's not a lot of room to cut (cause most of the budget is salaries and pensions). And then if they do cut spending, retirees aren't replaced, and you're right, service quality declines. Less people doing the same amount of work. The whole thing is a joke. We need to axe public sector salaries and break up the unions.
     
  3. This is an excellent idea ... public service employees should start operating under the same constraints and pressure of the private sector ... way to go Canada.
     
  4. Max E.

    Max E.

    I think its a good idea, what we need to do is attract some of the talent from the Airline industry, or the hotel industry. Those guys are notoriously cheap and really know how to pinch a penny. Unfortunately the good ones would never switch over because of the pay. We could probably afford the size of government we have and keep all the services without raising taxes, if the government was just able to operate in some kind of efficient way like the private sector.

    Unfortunately wanting the government to operate at the same efficiency level as some of the toughest industries in the private sector is just a pipe dream, and it will never happen.

     
  5. Lucrum

    Lucrum

    Sounds good on the surface at least. Give it a try and let us yanks know how it works out. :)
     
  6. I think the feds are moving in this direction. Have you been keeping up with the latest on the Air Canada flight attendants situation?
     
  7. Indeed. But perhaps if public sector employees were effectively paid to get efficient, we could get closer.
     
  8. Jack Welch here we come. Get out of here, this would never work in the US. Next years budget is based on if you spend all of this years budget and then cry "I need a bigger budget."

    Why would we pay someone a bonus to cut a budget if part of their job which would be effecient and productive.
     
  9. Those damn socialists are at it again...
     
  10. Big organizations cannot be "efficient", whether they are private sector, public sector, or part way between.
     
    #10     Oct 12, 2011