ARD committee paper on the level of directors' salaries

WHow high should the salaries of directors in public broadcasting be? What is appropriate and what is excessive? The question has long concerned the public, politicians, broadcasters and their supervisory bodies. The scandal at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg in particular fueled the debate. The circumstances under which the annual salary of director Patricia Schlesinger, who was terminated without notice, was increased towards 350,000 euros were not particularly transparent. The new RBB board of directors drew the right conclusion: salary cap for the new director, the benchmark is 220,000 euros.

A list reported by “Bild am Sonntag” now gives the impression that the requirement not to make full use of salaries has not yet reached everyone on ARD. It is the paper of a working group of the ARD Committee Chairmen's Conference (GVK), in which the heads of the committees of the individual institutions are represented. As can be learned, this paper has been worked on since the beginning of 2022 in order to get an overview of how the broadcasters deal with non-tariff contracts (i.e. high earners). The memo was updated in January of this year.

What comparison sizes are there?

One point in the paper is about which comparison figures could be used for the salaries of the directors. Municipal utility and IHK bosses and cultural directors are mentioned. And the ARD tax office draws up a calculation according to which the Federal Chancellor (whose salary is given as 360,000 euros), if he were an employee of the ARD who is not paid by collective agreements, would have an annual salary of 525,000 euros because of the different tax regulations and social contributions there. Prime Ministers receive 422,000 euros per year from ARD.

Does this mean that the heads of administration at the ARD broadcasters are preparing a hefty increase in the directors' salaries? That's not how it is, say Hans-Albert Stechl, chairman of the SWR board of directors and head of the GVK finance committee, and Claudia Schare, head of the WDR board of directors and deputy chairwoman of the GVK finance committee.

Information basis, not a decision

In order to assess whether salaries are appropriate, “a solid, current and broad data basis” is necessary. Therefore, when determining “an appropriate salary range” for the new director position to be filled, the WDR board of directors included the salaries of “comparison groups”, including salaries of managing directors of public companies and top politicians. Since there are “significant tax and social security differences” for civil servants or top politicians compared to employees, which “have a beneficial effect on the calculation of net income,” this had to be taken into account; it was not a “special calculation.” The paper is an information basis and not a final decision.

The representation that salaries should be “relaxed using mathematical tricks” is false. The board of directors is taking the debate about directors' salaries “very seriously.” A “six-figure reduction in his salary” was agreed with the re-elected SWR director Kai Gniffke over the term of his new contract. The director election at WDR is taking place at the end of June.