MONTREAL — Metro Inc. has defended its decision to pay top executives near-maximum bonuses, saying that it was already “well on its way to meet or exceed budgetary targets prior to the pandemic”. The company’s five highest-paid officers combined received $3.48 million in bonuses, with $1.43 million going to CEO Eric La Flèche. At the end of November, Metro, which in June ended the hourly wage premium it had introduced for front-line workers in the spring, announced a final one-time bonus for those employees.
Christopher Chen at Compensation Governance Partners told the Globe & Mail that companies have a balancing act to do in calculating bonuses. “Some organizations, they’re really doing well, and they’ve got some front-line workers who are showing up every single day,” he said. “What kind of bonus are you going to give your executives? Your numbers say pay the executives the max. How does that look this year? Is that optically the right thing?”
