Serco’s trick; reward failure with a pay rise

Australia’s immigration detention centres, woefully mismanaged by Serco and the Federal government, is in chaos.

But not to worry. Serco head honcho clearly deserves more money for causing misery to countless thousands:

Serco Group Plc (SRP), a U.K. outsourcing company that derived about half its revenue from public-sector contracts last year, raised the pay of Chris Hyman, its chief executive officer, by 18 percent, to 1.86 million pounds ($2.97 million), and that of Finance Director Andrew Jenner by 7 percent, to 948,300 pounds, the Financial Times reported, citing the company’s annual report.

Those figures exclude pensions and long-term incentives, for which comparable figures weren’t immediately available, the newspaper said.

In addition to his basic salary and annual bonus, Hyman exercised share options worth 1.6 million pounds during the year, the FT said.

Mark Serwotka, who heads the Public and Commercial Services union, said it “ought to be a national scandal” that such executives are “making vast sums” when their profits depend largely on the taxpayer, the newspaper said.

Serco said the pay levels were justified as the business “performed strongly in highly competitive markets,” the FT added.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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