Auditor General Denise Hanrahan believes there are other mechanisms in place for the province’s Oil and Gas Corporation to make its jobs more competitive than simply offering higher salaries.

Hanrahan released her performance audit of OilCo yesterday.

In it, she scrutinizes the organization for not classifying its positions based on the government scale, as was requested by the province. As a result, many are being paid more than the government standard.

Some would ague that limiting pay to the government scale would make OilCo less competitive when competing against private businesses for employees, but Hanrahan disagrees.

She says it all starts with classifying the job first, then addressing recruitment and retention issues. She explains government responds by adding things on to compensation such as market allowances, and recruitment and retention bonuses.