London Health Sciences Centre President and CEO Dr. Jackie Schleifer Taylor made more than $750,000 in salary and benefits in 2022 - up more than 40% from 2021.
Craig discusses that with Peter Bergmanis of the London Health Coalition and then reads an e-mail from a London Health Sciences Centre staffer about how people on the front lines feel about the wage hike for executives in a time when their increases are limited to 1%.
LHSC Board Chair Phyllis Retty was offered a chance to appear on the podcast, but instead sent a statement that said the following:
"Dr. Schleifer Taylor was named interim CEO for LHSC in 2021 and, through a competitive recruitment process, was named permanent CEO in late 2021. Her salary reflects the transition to permanent CEO and the adoption of an executive compensation framework that was developed using external benchmarking to other complex hospital systems in Ontario. It includes base pay, performance pay and some accrued vacation pay that she was unable to take as time off due to ongoing pandemic and system recovery work.
LHSC is one of Canada’s largest research-intensive acute care teaching hospitals and home to one of four specialized children’s hospitals in our province. We are a unique hospital that serves community care needs in London while also providing highly specialized care to patients across Southwestern Ontario and as far away as Thunder Bay. We are a community of 15,000 staff, physicians, researchers, learners and volunteers operating in a highly complex environment, 24/7 and 365 days per year.
The Board approved the CEO compensation taking into account the complexity of the hospital, the current competitive recruitment environment for healthcare executives and a comparison of CEO compensation of similar complex hospital systems in Ontario. Our most important job as a Board is to ensure we can attract and retain the caliber of talent our staff, physicians and community need to grow and transform our system.
LHSC has a strategic and bold vision for the future of health care in London – one centered on ensuring quality care for generations to come. As a Board, it is our responsibility to select a leader who is best-in-class with the experience and qualifications to lead LHSC, and who has strong relationships with our peers and funders locally and across the region, province and country. Dr. Schleifer Taylor is that leader."
In response to the concerns about executive raises in a time that frontline staff are limited to 1% increases, Retty's statement said:We are grateful that our frontline staff continue to provide exceptional care to our community especially when faced with pandemic and other challenges.
The compensation of represented and non-represented staff at LHSC including nurses is determined by collective bargaining and/or provincial legislation.
It’s important to note that, of the 15,000 people who work for LHSC, a total of 1,711 or about 12% are on the salary disclosure list and the vast majority of those people work in clinical positions.
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