Mike's Minute: Do we complain about public service pay too much?

One of the easiest games in town is currently being played in Wellington. 

The water company has a new Māori name, and they are going to start sending out specific water bills to everyone, which upon first blush, if you have never got a water bill before, seems a lot. The average will be about $2,500. 

But then the upside is it's good to know what things actually cost, as opposed to having it all hidden away in a mass bill called "rates" where you have no idea what's what. 

The real scrap though is over the pay packets. In this new company they are a lot bigger. 

The chair of the board gets $110,000. They used to get $60,000 before. The members of that board get $60,000 when they used to get $30,000. 

The bloke who carries the can as CEO gets $645,000. 

Toss a few figures like that about the place and the upset is almost instant. 

But, and here is your real-world issue, you either want decent people for the job, any job, or you don’t. 

I don't need to tell you that previously a lot of the people doing Wellington's water work were clearly useless. In a small and not complete way, money fixes that. 

It is not to say big money automatically gets brilliance. But it is fair to say if you pay rubbish, you will get rubbish. 

The old community contribution, "give something back" line only carries you so far and you tend to get do-gooders, not professionals. 

Can I be even slightly more fiscally acerbic by suggesting that even at these new inflated numbers you're not exactly paying top dollar. $645,000 is a lot of money if you're in year 13, or a teacher, or a journalist. 

But it's not much to be a CEO. It's even less when you are the CEO of an entity that is under tremendous pressure and publicly accountable by a population that will want to lynch you if you fail. 

As a rule, the public service underpays. And that in part is why the public service is in the state it's in. Cheap in general is no way to run business, sign contracts, accept quotes or operate your life. 

Worry less about the money and more about the outcomes. 

If Wellington had never had a water worry with no burst pipes, no contamination, no poo in the harbour and the bloke running the place was earning $2 million and gave you that, what a bargain. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the easiest games in town is currently being
played in Wellington. So you've got the water company. They've
got a nice new Maori name, and they're going to
start sending out specific water bills to everyone, which, upon
first blush if you've never got a water bill before,
seems a lot, the average being about two and a
half thousand dollars a year. But then the upsize. It
is good to know I would have thought what things
actually cost, as opposed to having it all heading away

(00:20):
in a mass bill called rates where no one's got
any idea what's going on. The real scrap, though, is
over the pay packets they in this new company. You
are a lot bigger now. The chair of the board
gets one hundred and ten thousand dollars they used to
get sixty. The members of the board get sixty they
used to get thirty. The bloke who carries the can
as the CEO, he gets six hundred and fift with
forty five thousand dollars a year. Now. Toss a few

(00:41):
figures like that about the place and suddenly you've got
a lot of banks, a lot of upset. But here
is your real world issue. You either want decent people
for the job, any job, or you don't now, I
don't need to tell you that previously a lot of
people doing Wellington's water work were clearly useless in a
small and not complete way. Money fixes that. It is
not to say big money or automatically gets brilliance, but

(01:01):
it is fair to say if you pay rubbish, you
will get rubbish. The old community contribution the gives something
back line only carries you so far. You tend to
do gooders, not professionals. And can I be even slightly
more fiscally acerbic by suggesting, even at these new inflated numbers,
you're not exactly paying top dollar. I mean, six hundred
and forty five thousand dollars is a lot of money

(01:22):
if you're in year thirteen, or you're a teacher, or
you're a journalist. But it's not too much to be
a CEO, and even less when you're the CEO of
an entity that's under tremendous pressure and publicly accountable by
a population that will want to lynch you if you fail. See,
the public services are as a rule underpays, and that
in part is why the public services in the state

(01:43):
it's in cheap in general, is no way to run business,
sign contracts, accept quotes, or operate your life worry less
about the money, more about the outcomes. If Wellington had
never had a water worry, no burst pipes, no contamination,
no pooh in the harbor, and the bloke run the place
was earning two million and gave you that. What a bargain.

(02:04):
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