BHB releases salary data

Bermuda Hospitals Board today releases compensation data for its employees.

Chairman, Mr Peter Everson, comments: “According to the Bermuda Hospitals Act 1970, ‘the scales of salaries and wages paid to officers and servants of the Board’ should be released as part of our annual financial statements and, since 2013, it has been the publicly stated intent of the Board to publish compensation information in our annual reports. However, due to a delay in the audit process beyond the control of BHB, this information has not yet been released. While we expect the 2011/12 Annual Report to be published shortly, this still leaves us some years behind and so 2011/12 data no longer accurately reflects current salaries. This issue has been deliberated on by the Board and, in the interests of public accountability and transparency, we have decided that updated salary information for all completed fiscal years should be shared, although noting that after 2011/12 this information is unaudited. So that BHB is consistent with similar released information from other quangos, such as the Bermuda Monetary Authority and Bermuda Tourism Authority, we are including the CEO salary as part of this release of information. Going forward, employee compensation information will be released in this format with our audited financial statements.

“On reviewing this data, I am pleased to note a general trend downwards in the highest salary bands for Executives and Physicians, which reflects a fair and consistent approach to setting compensation. For physicians the reduction, in large part, related to implementing recommendations from the Towers Watson Physician Compensation review – the summary of which was released to the public in 2013, as well as certain physician specialties returning to private practice. In the Executive group, a leaner Executive Team has been established to streamline BHB from the very top. Over the last four years four senior positions have been made redundant. BHB’s employees on lower salaries have seen some increase. Members of the Board, meanwhile, are unpaid volunteers and receive a stipend for attending meetings at the rate set by the Government of $50 per meeting. They do not receive any benefits or other forms of compensation.”

Mr Everson concludes: “On behalf of the Board, I am certainly pleased that this information is now being shared. It must be remembered that BHB is a large and complex organisation, spending about $300 million a year in delivering acute medical and psychiatric services and a range of primary and secondary care services for the community, including learning disabled and long term care. While the focus on this data is very much about the cost of the workforce, I do not want to lose sight of the value of the people who work every day, day and night, to care for us when we are in need. I would like to thank them on behalf of the Board for their tireless commitment and caring for those in need.”

The following notes provide background to the figures:

• Total costs show the cost of positions to BHB and include salary, performance pay and housing allowance (where applicable), current year’s movement in leave pay provision, social insurance payments, pay roll tax and pension deductions.

• The top range total cost in the Executive group declined from $703,400 to $504,200 (down 28.3%) comparing 2011/12 to 2015/16 and the total cost of the CEO position has declined over the same period from $703,356 to $504,179 (down 28.3%).

• Over the same time span, the top range total cost for physicians has declined from $1,788,700 to $742,500 (down 58.5%).

• BHB’s total compensation costs have been listed in publicly released unaudited financial data since 2013. This figure includes the costs of casual and temporary staff, which is not reflected in figures released today. In 2015/16 unaudited financial, Total Salaries and Employee Benefits were $185 million, $3 million less than in 2011/12 when the figure was $188 million (a reduction of 1.6%).

• There has been a freeze on Executive salaries and there has been no performance-based pay since 2011/12. In the last independent review of Executive compensation in March 2014 by Sullivan and Cotter, BHB Executive salaries were below benchmarks (the benchmark uses US, Canada and the UK as references and aims for the 50th percentile).

• Perceived changes in the Executive group salary ranges in each fiscal year in the attached figures generally relate to changes in personnel or redundancies. The following list identifies positions where two or more people held a position over the 2011/12 to 2014/15 time period, and/or whether a position was added or made redundant during that time:
o CEO (2)
o Chief of Staff (3)
o CFO (2)
o Chief of HR (2 – position made redundant in 2014/15)
o Chief Information Officer (position made redundant in 2014/15)
o Chief Performance Officer (position added then made redundant in 2012/13)
o General Counsel (position added in 2011/12)

• From time to time during the period under review certain positions have been held where the contract is not with a BHB employed individual, but with a company. Positions impacted over the time period 2011/12 to 2015/16 include the Chief of HR, Chief of Staff, Chief Performance Officer and Chief Financial Officer. The costs of these contracts are included in the total cost data.

Attachment 1: Download full media release and salary data

Archives