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BY MARK KIESLING
Times Columnist | Sunday, February 05, 2006 | (No comments posted.)
Let's say, just for laughs, that someone is stupid enough to appoint me to be the chief executive officer of a multimillion-dollar corporation.
They then get what they deserve when I am $10.2 million shy of the target set for me. That is a $30,539-per-day shortfall for the 11-month reporting period. I don't know what you make a year, but I could live all right on a couple days of the shortfall.
The phone rings, and it's the chairman of the board of directors. They want to see me in the board room, pronto. I've already got my kids' pictures and my stuffed Curious George (don't ask) off the desk and into my briefcase, because I know they've got my walking papers.
But when I get there, instead of the heave-ho, I am greeted warmly. So warmly, in fact, that my head begins to swim when the board chairman announces my salary will shoot from $321,100 to $365,000, a 14 percent increase.
You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
Porter hospital CEO Ron Winger had the same dream, and he hasn't woken up yet.
Neither has the hospital's nine-member board, apparently. They voted, with only three members in opposition, to give a total of $149,000 in pay raises to six of the hospital's top executives, including Winger's 14 percent boost.
Porter County's commissioners appoint the board, and Commissioner Bob Harper was less than excited about the news that executives who oversaw a $1.6 million operating loss -- $10.2 million short of projected expectations -- were being rewarded for their efforts.
Harper also expressed concerns about openness promised by the hospital board in its dealings, when the pay bumps were OK'd in private and announced after the fact.
To justify the increases, board member and former Chairman John Rhame said "pay consultants" said the increases would bring them up to industry standards.
That may be, but how about performance? Has the hospital been performing up to industry standards? It doesn't sound like it. So maybe the pay increases should have relied less on what others in the industry are making and more on how the locals in Porter County are performing.
The question of "industry standards" also didn't answer whether that pay was equalized out for Porter County. A salary of $365,000 will buy a lot more beans and franks in Valparaiso than in, say, New York City or San Francisco.
One can only wonder what the staff at the hospital, who will see raises of about 3 percent, think of the boss's 14 percent jump, especially considering 14 percent of $321,000 is already a lot more than 3 percent of $45,000 or whatever the average hospital staff worker makes.
Their only consolation is that if it makes them sick to think about it, they're already at a hospital.
Mark Kiesling's column solely represents the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of The Times. Readers can reach Kiesling at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.
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