Paul Reid: Value for money?

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 11:31am #1

It's been reported that Paul Reid made €420,103 in 2020.

What do people think? Is his compensation deserved?

https://www.thejournal.ie/hse-boss-paul-reids-salary-increases-to-e420103-5377067-Mar2021/

Not unexpectedly I think it is an outrageous salary and illustrates quite brutally the waste that is endemic in the HSE.

Why would he make more than the Taoiseach? Is he doing a good job?

suicide_circus · 10-03-2021 11:36am

While this is obviously crazy money in the context of an organisation which is apparently perpetually under funded, its not Paul's salary itself which is worrying. It's the thousands and thousands of other staff on lower but similarly bloated salaries.

NIMAN · 10-03-2021 11:36am

And also the report that there has been a 25% increase in the number of HSE employees earning €100,000+.

Fr Tod Umptious · 10-03-2021 11:37am

Once again it's time for a boards.ie

"Someone that I have no idea about what their qualifications are, or what their work load entails, or what the market for their skills is like, is earning a lot of money, something must be wrong"

thread.

He's a CEO

CEOs earn that sort of money.

suicide_circus · 10-03-2021 11:39am

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Once again it's time for a boards.ie

"Someone that I have no idea about what their qualifications are, or what their work load entails, or what the market for their skills is like, is earning a lot of money, something must be wrong"

thread.

He's a CEO

CEOs earn that sort of money.

Why is the head of the NHS on £190,000?

Chips Lovell · 10-03-2021 11:41am

I'm not sure what the worst job in Ireland is, Minister for Health or head of the HSE. Either way, there's no money in the world you could pay me to do either job.

ThewhiteJesus · 10-03-2021 11:44am

Not bad for the man with the skills of a second hand car salesman.
For the record, most of the staff in the HSE are on or below the national average wage and have been through hell over the last year,
working the whole way through in the office, as our systems are so outdated and alot of it is still paper.
Then what about the front line staff putting their lives at risk everyday, but yes why not start yet another hse bashing thread.

helimachoptor · 10-03-2021 11:45am

Chips Lovell wrote: »

I'm not sure what the worst job in Ireland is, Minister for Health or head of the HSE. Either way, there's no money in the world you could pay me to do either job.

But as head of the HSE, he's got a 5 year contract so he'll see that out and by some miracle if he didnt see it out no matterhow bad a job he did/does he'll get his full pay and whatever parachute payment he negotiated.

golondrinas1 · 10-03-2021 11:50am

suicide_circus wrote: »

Why is the head of the NHS on £190,000?

Because he only looks after twenty times the amount of people... Oh and he has enough of the vaccine for EVERYONE..

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 11:52am

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

CEOs earn that sort of money.

Even CEOs that are doing a terrible job?

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 11:53am

Chips Lovell wrote: »

I'm not sure what the worst job in Ireland is, Minister for Health or head of the HSE. Either way, there's no money in the world you could pay me to do either job.

A nurse in a covid ward making 15x less?

Fr Tod Umptious · 10-03-2021 11:56am

suicide_circus wrote: »

Why is the head of the NHS on £190,000?

I don't know why the head of the NHS is on the equivalent of 220k Euro.

Question for the UK government I guess.

Piollaire · 10-03-2021 11:56am

Inequality is spiralling out of control in Ireland when you have someone in a public service job sucking up huge resources for himself personally.

Allinall · 10-03-2021 11:57am

Piollaire wrote: »

Inequality is spiralling out of control in Ireland when you have someone in a public service job sucking up huge resources for himself personally.

He doesn't set his own pay or conditions.

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 11:57am

Piollaire wrote: »

Inequality is spiralling out of control in Ireland when you have someone in a public service job sucking up huge resources for himself personally.

Don't worry. The "progressive" taxation means it's mostly high earners on 40K that are paying Paul's salary.

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 12:00pm

Allinall wrote: »

He doesn't set his own pay or conditions.

Fair point. The only people I have seen return pay increases are Sinn Fein politicians. I'd hazard a guess that they receive a nice stipend from the party in compensation.

Fr Tod Umptious · 10-03-2021 12:01pm

stefanovich wrote: »

Even CEOs that are doing a terrible job?

Is he doing a terrible job ?

I know the HSE is a poorly run orginisation since it's inception almost 20 years ago.

That's not down to the current CEO.

And if cut his salary what happens next ?

Do you expect him to get better for less money ?

If you get rid of him do you expect his replacement to do better for less money ?

CEOs are CEOs and on CEO money because they are good at what they do and have worked hard to get to that level.

You don't become a CEO by being lazy or stupid or bad at your job.

Piollaire · 10-03-2021 12:04pm

Allinall wrote: »

He doesn't set his own pay or conditions.

He looked for it, they gave it to him, it doesn't matter. This guy can buy a new house for himself every year at the expense of everyone else.

enricoh · 10-03-2021 12:06pm

suicide_circus wrote: »

Why is the head of the NHS on £190,000?

Coz he's thick!

Allinall · 10-03-2021 12:06pm

Piollaire wrote: »

He looked for it, they gave it to him, it doesn't matter. This guy can buy a new house for himself every year at the expense of everyone else.

Every civil servant in the country could buy 5,000 rolls of toilet paper every year at the expense of everyone else.

What's your point?

cruizer101 · 10-03-2021 12:07pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

He's a CEO

CEOs earn that sort of money.

Thats not really a good enough reason in itself.

CEO's are normally held to account by the board which represents the shareholders and so a good CEO increases the share price, often their remuneration will reflect this with a large portion made up of bonuses based on performance.

As head of HSE we the public are in effect the shareholder and should be able to question if he is good value for money. In this case the metrics are not share price but rather the performance of the HSE, e.g. wait times, efficiency, etc.
There should be targets set for which he gets bonuses.

I'm not saying the money he gets is outrageous, but to just say well that's what CEO's get so let him have it with no requirement on performance is silly.

kennypowers · 10-03-2021 12:08pm

Put it this way if he was let go tomorrow would there be any private sector companies clambering for his services ?

Piollaire · 10-03-2021 12:08pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Is he doing a terrible job ?

I know the HSE is a poorly run orginisation since it's inception almost 20 years ago.

That's not down to the current CEO.

And if cut his salary what happens next ?

Do you expect him to get better for less money ?

If you get rid of him do you expect his replacement to do better for less money ?

CEOs are CEOs and on CEO money because they are good at what they do and have worked hard to get to that level.

You don't become a CEO by being lazy or stupid or bad at your job.

CEOs have become obsessed with extracting the maximum out of the businesses they manage for themselves. The interests of other stakeholders and even the long term good of the business itself is secondary.

Fr Tod Umptious · 10-03-2021 12:09pm

stefanovich wrote: »

A nurse in a covid ward making 15x less?

That's because it's easy to be a nurse and the country has lots of them.

Anyone with a certain intellect and go to nursing school and become a nurse and spend their whole lives as a nurse on a ward.

But if they want to be more then need to work harder, and study harder, and if they want to get off the wards and the shift work and get into management they need to work harder and study harder again, and if they want to rise all the way up to C level executive they have to work even harder, study even harder and be more driven.

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 12:11pm

kennypowers wrote: »

Put it this way if he was let go tomorrow would there be any private sector companies clambering for his services ?

He certainly wasn't on that money when he worked for Fingal county council.

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 12:13pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

That's because it's easy to be a nurse and the country has lots of them.

Anyone with a certain intellect and go to nursing school and become a nurse and spend their whole lives as a nurse on a ward.

But if they want to be more then need to work harder, and study harder, and if they want to get off the wards and the shift work and get into management they need to work harder and study harder again, and if they want to rise all the way up to C level executive they have to work even harder, study even harder and be more driven.

My first hand experience of the HSE is that it is not fit for purpose. It is a complete failure. There needs to be a deep cull of the management.

I'm not against high salary if it is value for money. He does not deserve it and would not survive in the public sector.

Fr Tod Umptious · 10-03-2021 12:13pm

cruizer101 wrote: »

Thats not really a good enough reason in itself.

CEO's are normally held to account by the board which represents the shareholders and so a good CEO increases the share price, often their remuneration will reflect this with a large portion made up of bonuses based on performance.

As head of HSE we the public are in effect the shareholder and should be able to question if he is good value for money. In this case the metrics are not share price but rather the performance of the HSE, e.g. wait times, efficiency, etc.
There should be targets set for which he gets bonuses.

I'm not saying the money he gets is outrageous, but to just say well that's what CEO's get so let him have it with no requirement on performance is silly.

So what are the KPIs and has he achieved them ?

You or I or anyone on this board have no idea what they are or whether his has achieved them.

All we have is some big number that can be compared to other big numbers and plenty of outrage.

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 12:16pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

So what are the KPIs and has he achieved them ?

You or I or anyone on this board have no idea what they are or whether his has achieved them.

All we have is some big number that can be compared to other big numbers and plenty of outrage.

And A&E wards full of vulnerable people being completely neglected.

I've seen the apathy and insane waste first hand. Hospitals are full of people queueing for scans.

Piollaire · 10-03-2021 12:16pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

That's because it's easy to be a nurse and the country has lots of them.

Anyone with a certain intellect and go to nursing school and become a nurse and spend their whole lives as a nurse on a ward.

But if they want to be more then need to work harder, and study harder, and if they want to get off the wards and the shift work and get into management they need to work harder and study harder again, and if they want to rise all the way up to C level executive they have to work even harder, study even harder and be more driven.

When does the ratio become unacceptable x50,x100,x1000? Is it really acceptable when you've successfully attained a position a position of power and control that you absolutely milk it for all that you can squeeze out of it and to hell with everyone else.

cruizer101 · 10-03-2021 12:18pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

So what are the KPIs and has he achieved them ?

You or I or anyone on this board have no idea what they are or whether his has achieved them.

I don't know, but why shouldn't it be public knowledge if he has KPI's, has he achieved them, and how much are they worth.
Some people will always moan but most reasonable people would be happy enough if they could see the KPI's and the progress towards them.

If he is doing a good job, he deserves the money.

Also the HSE is a crock of **** so I don't expect anyone to turn it around in a short time frame, but it would be good to see is he actually making progress and worth the money he is getting.

stefanovich · 10-03-2021 12:18pm

Piollaire wrote: »

When does the ratio become unacceptable x50,x100,x1000? Is it really acceptable when you've successfully attained a position a position of power and control that you absolutely milk it for all that you can squeeze out of it and to hell with everyone else.

My initial question was value for money. The salary I would have no problem with if he turned around the HSE and made sweeping reforms.

I think there needs to be a shock and awe approach to this with the structure dismantled and rebuilt.

Maybe we could offer the NHS CEO the job for less money than Paul.

Paul Reid: Value for money?

Comments