Stranger

Relatively young guy, Ferio Pugliese, originally from northern Ontario.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2018...gional-Markets

Transpacificflyer

Did the gentleman take a pay cut? Public Records show that when he was at Hydro 1, his compensation was; Ferio Pugliese, EVP, Customer Care and Corporate Affairs -$2,872,346. Mar 29, 2017

With the lingering political undertones at Hydro One, I wonder why the airline would recruit someone like this. Were there political reasons associated with the federal government?

jc94

rankourabu

Just when one thinks one can't get a job at a slimier company then Hydro1....

Fiordland

About twenty years ago I worked for a major supply to Ontario Hydro. At the time Ontario Hydro had a policy of getting the very best people by paying in the top 25% percentile. Fairly certain that increases cost, not certain it gets you better people. I thought AC was a mean employer. Perhaps its in the bottom 25% percentile. Not certain.

canadiancow

In my industry, the top 25% people are probably twice as productive as the 25% below them.

If all you do is pay more, that's no good. But having top compensation is a useful tool in attracting better people.

I regularly get recruiting emails that mention a range of X to Y, where Y is less than I make now. I don't reply.

skybluesea

AC compensation for a top executive will match what is possible in the marketplace. and the role of coming from senior crown corporation well positions this person to deal with challenges in Ottawa that is a primary responsibility.

@jc94 - curious whether you watch sports, movies, have a stockbroker, lawyer, specialist doctor, and multitude of other professionals and entertainers that can make far more than $2.8 CDN million annually - and last week was in NYC to see Springsteen on Broadway, based on what I paid for two tickets, and two T-shirts, figure this production is grossing $3.6 USD million PER WEEK... figure after 50% overheads, net for the BOSS is approaching $2.5 million CDN per week.

good luck Mr. Pugliese, and we will soon learn if you are earning what AC pays you - and you too will need rockstar performance to help AC maintain profitability and keep regulators from constraining too much AC corporate strategy.

Fiordland

It takes skill to hire the 25% that outperform their counterparts. Compensation can be part of it. However that usually not the whole story.

Certain this new AC executive is being well compensated.....

canadiancow

I guess a better way to word it is that low compensation guarantees low performance.

High compensation doesn't guarantee anything, but it's generally a requirement for high performance.

skybluesea

if Mr. Pugliese compensation ONLY defined in monetary terms, this may very well be true.

The entire benefits package needs to be considered, which we will NOT be aware of for this new AC executive.

Financial compensation is certainly necessary, as you say, but really high flyers are incentivized by self-actualization.

in my case, spent 5 years working in a public organization that could not for PR reasons pay well, yet, the true benefits from this engagement keep paying handsomely over and over to this day - and I left that organization 15 years ago.

Wish Mr. Pugliese well, and hopefully his decision to join AC was more than for just a pay cheque - that is the most blunt tool of all, and HR folks know this for senior recruits.

Jumper Jack

I would not go as far as guarantees.
You can still give low pay while staying ahead if you have structure/process in place.
Is SouthWest or Jet Blue pay much higher than AC/UA/DL? Yet these companies have much better consumer ratings and better economy products even compare to US Legacy carriers.

A passionate but less skilled worker can still be a much better option in the long run vs a highly skilled worker with no passion or care to make things better

skybluesea

exactly, hire those with a passion to learn, and pretty much everything else necessary to get job done will follow.

longtimeflyin

These unilateral comments are quite often not the case. No need to take it from anyone on this board, but perhaps some learnings can be gleaned from various studies that show that above a certain income, money no longer ranks #1 . E.g. various studies have indicated that when one exceeds an income of $75,000/year, that money often drops from most peoples' number one priorities.

While I would not agree that $75,000/year is sufficient for that to drop from #1 in my prior life, I can say I have declined several jobs in my working life that offered me more money.

All this to state that high or low compensation does not guarantee anything as there are a multitude of other reasons why an individual would prefer to work at a place that offers less than #1 compensation that he or she is able to make.

Unfortunately we will not know all the reasons Mr. Pugliese chose to join Air Canada.

"and pay them enough". What enough means is different for everyone, but since we're on the discussion of absolutes here, thought I would add that piece.