Millions paid out in executive bonuses

If they must give out bonuses, they should be no larger than 5%. Anything above that is unwarranted, and perfomance-wise, unobtainable.

THe problem here is that for the top levels of govt, the perks and bonuses have to be at least ROUGHLY comparable to the private sector in order to attract and keep talented and experienced people. Do you really want the Canda Pension Plan run by somebody who would never qualify for any similar job in the private sector?

Exectuive pay and bonuses in the private sector have really gotten way out of hand in the past few decades. Im not talking about steady increases year over year that are just at large number over time, Im talking about a steep and dramatic increase that if graphed on a chart would be shaped more like a backward hockey stick than a steady 45 degree rise. Public sector just copies private sector whenever they can get away with it.

I once worked where we had bonuses based on performance.
Set goals at the beginning of the year.
If the company hit that goal, minimal bonus.
If we went over, more money for the company and more for us.

Strange in big companies and government that the bonuses are paid out completely no matter what the bottom line is. Bonuses are fixed when the contract is signed.

I can understand that in some cases though, no matter what the big wigs do, the company will not hit their goals because of factors that are beyond their control.

Yeah when the 'bonus' is guaranteed from the start and payed regardless of individual, department or company performance, its not really a bonus, its a salary that the company can legally withold on short notice whenever it feels fit. So if a job structured this way has a 100k salary and a 100k bonus, its really a 200k salary but you might only get paid half if the company suddenly wants to save some cash. Also, if you terminate or they become obligated to you post-employment, they have more lee-way with paying out bonuses.