National company KazMunayGas (KMG) has commented on reports of payments exceeding half a billion tenge to board members for the past year, reports website infohub.kz.
Earlier it became known that the total compensation for KMG board members for the past year amounted to 519,091,079 tenge. Given that the board consists of nine people — Chairman Aschat Khasenov and eight deputies — netizens began calculating an "average share" of nearly 60 million tenge each. However, the national company was quick to explain why simple arithmetic does not apply here.
It all depends on KPIs
As KMG explained, each top manager's salary is individual. The final amount directly depends on key performance indicators (KPIs).
"The size of bonuses and incentives is calculated based on each employee's achievement of KPIs. A similar system operates in KMG's subsidiaries and affiliates," the company noted.
The scheme was confirmed by the company's board chairman Aschat Khasenov on the sidelines.
"Each company has its own KPIs. We defend these indicators at the board of directors of KazMunayGas. Only after achieving specific KPIs is the percentage of completion, bonus size, and so on determined," Khasenov said.
Optimization and cuts
In addition to talk of million-tenge bonuses, the head of KMG touched on cost optimization. According to him, the national company is following the Head of State's directive to reduce administrative expenses. Thus, the central office of KazMunayGas has already cut 47 employees, which is 10 percent of the company's total staff.