No top government manager should have a greater salary increase than the employees – in kroner and øre. Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre will ensure that, writes the newspaper. The news comes in connection with the government’s ownership notice to be presented on Friday. – There is no ownership notice that has gone this far before. This is a very strong tightening. But I want to be a minister of business who accomplishes something, he tells the newspaper. Now, no top manager should have a bigger salary increase than the employees. The change does not apply to a percentage increase, but in kroner and øre, the newspaper writes. – We are introducing a principle that if a manager receives a higher salary increase than the average of the employees in the organisation, and then we are talking in kroner and øre, then it must be justified separately and presented at the general meeting, says Vestre to the newspaper. – Horrible proposal Jan Petter Sissener is an investor and managing director of Sissener AS, and has argued for years that the state must pay managers well in order to get hold of the best people. He is unenthusiastic about the government’s proposal. Jan Petter Sissener believes that Vestre’s proposal is bad. Skilled managers cost money, he says further. Photo: Margret Helland / news – It seems like a horrible proposal, he says over the phone from California. As a portfolio manager, he is above average concerned with which leaders create value, and believes the government is planning for the state to get mediocre leaders and, in the worst case, may get several former politician colleagues as leaders in the state. – It is obvious that the current government wants to bet on mediocrity. It is clear that if managers in the public sector are not to have a stronger salary development in kroner and øre than employees, then it is a completely distorted thought in Vestre’s mind. I don’t know which employees the manager should compare himself to, but if you want to develop businesses, you must have skilled managers. They cost money, says Sissener. The chairman of the state-owned Innovation Norway, Gunnar Bovim, understands that Vestre is taking a radical step, but believes in return that the negotiation about the starting salary will be more important. – My observation is also that in some companies there has been too strong a development in executive pay, which is difficult to explain in publicly owned companies. There is an immediate risk with what he is proposing: That there will be greater pressure on the entry value in managerial salaries because you cannot count on general salary development thereafter, says Bovim. To ban bonuses in some companies The Government will ban bonuses in all “category 2” companies, and halve the maximum bonus from 50 to 25 per cent in “category 1” companies, writes VG. The state has direct ownership, managed through the ministries, in 71 companies. The state owns around a third of the values on Oslo Børs, according to the Ministry of Business and Industry. The ownerships are divided into three categories, based on the rationale for why the state is on the ownership side. The companies that primarily operate in competition with others are in “categories 1 and 2”, in these categories the state, which owns it, aims for the highest possible return over time. The companies that primarily do not operate in competition with others are in “category 3”. “Category 1” includes companies where the state has no justification for ownership, while “category 2” includes companies where the state has special justifications for ownership.
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– Horrible proposal – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
