Salaries and benefits at Hydro-Québec are about 20% better paid than what is offered for similar positions at large employers such as Bombardier, the Caisse de depot or the City of Montreal.
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“Where is the limit? It takes what a pay gap to finally say: “We have to clean the house.” Thirty ? Fifty percent ? thunders François Vincent, VP Quebec for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
Hydro-Québec pays its employees even better than employers already recognized for their generosity, such as the City of Montreal, the National Bank or Loto-Québec, which are part of its reference market.
The assessment is that of experts who spoke at hearings of the Régie de l’énergie in recent months, which focused on the setting of rates for the electricity transmission division.
Hydro-Québec’s operating costs eventually end up being reflected in the price of the tariffs. “The minimum, before passing on a rate increase to Quebecers, is to make sure that the house is in order,” underlines Mr. Vincent.
Suggested 10% reduction
The expert in question, Yann-Philippe St-Laurent, of the firm Optimum Actuaires & Conseils (OAC), suggests that the Régie de l’énergie reduce the government corporation’s total compensation by 10% in the calculation of revenues required to set Hydro’s rates.
“While we are talking to Quebecers about energy sobriety, that electricity rates for commercial and industrial consumers will increase by 4 to 6.4% in April, it would be appropriate to see wage sobriety on the part of Hydro- Quebec,” said Jocelyn B. Allard, president of the Quebec Association of Industrial Electricity Consumers (AQCIE).
Battle of Experts
Mr. St-Laurent is the expert mandated by the AQCIE, the Quebec Forest Industry Council (CIFQ) and the CFIB.
Its mandate was to evaluate the study on the overall compensation of Hydro employees carried out in 2021 by the firm Normandin-Beaudry, itself mandated by Hydro-Québec.
Normandin-Beaudry concluded that compensation at Hydro was 7% higher than the reference market, a difference that exceeds the “acceptable” standard of 5%. The firm OAC suggests instead that this gap would be around 14 to 24% above what the market pays for similar groups of jobs.
The discrepancy stems from “shortcomings” in the methodology used by Hydro-Québec concerning paid time off, the length of the workweek and the evaluation of base salary, among other things.
Hydro-Quebec’s reaction
“The Normandin-Beaudry study is based on a methodology recognized in the industry and by the Régie de l’énergie,” points out Caroline Des Rosiers, spokesperson for Hydro-Québec.
“The Régie has not yet made a final decision on the competitiveness of Hydro-Québec’s overall compensation. It should be noted that the Régie de l’énergie has also discarded a few elements mentioned in Mr. St-Laurent’s report, in particular the fact of integrating overtime in the analysis,” she points out.
In its decision rendered on November 25, the Régie de l’énergie asks Hydro-Québec to carry out a new study in 2025, which will take into account the shortcomings highlighted by the firm OAC.
Total compensation at Hydro compared to the reference market
According to the firm
- Normandin-Beaudry: 107%
According to the firm
Companies in the reference market:
- Air Canada
- National Bank
- Bombardier Aerospace
- Caisse de depot et placement du Québec
- Loto-Quebec
- Pratt & Whitney Canada
- Montreal Transit Company
- Quebec liquor company
- City of Montreal
- Quebec city
Over $236 million paid to senior executives and executives in 2021
In 2021, Hydro-Québec paid more than $236 million to its senior executives and executives in base salaries and bonuses. These figures were obtained by The newspaper following an access to information request.
Senior managers and executives earned $33.6 million, while middle managers and middle managers earned $202.2 million.
“In 2021, 1,745 executives at all levels of management were employed by Hydro-Québec,” says Caroline Des Rosiers, of Hydro-Québec.
“This number represents less than 9% of all employees in the organization, a management rate adapted to our organizational context,” she adds.
“Hydro-Québec has major challenges recruiting executives,” said François Bouffard, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University. “The fact that Hydro-Québec professionals – engineers, for example – are unionized makes recruitment difficult. Engineers have few incentives to become executives. By becoming one, they lose their job security and must now manage complaints and other grievances from their employees,” he says.
A number that strikes
“It’s a figure that strikes the imagination. But that is justified, among other things, because Hydro-Québec is a huge company and because of the labor shortage, there is also a challenge to keep its staff,” explains Yan Cimon, professor of strategy at the Faculty in administration from Laval University.
“The important thing is that the company is transparent and that salary increases are monitored,” he adds.
– In collaboration with Sylvain Larocque