If Shareholders Say ‘Enough Already,’ the Board May Listen
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON, NYT
RAISES may be hard-won for most American workers these days, but for those fortunate few in the executive suite, the pay increases just keep on coming. Last year, the median chief executive at a United States company with more than $5 billion in revenue received about $14 million, 2.8 percent more than in 2011, according to an annual pay analysis conducted by Equilar. The 2012 increase, though relatively modest, still represents a raise for most of those who inhabit the corner office (and whose companies had filed the data by the end of March).
A more important question may be this: Do this year’s figures show any evidence of progress toward a new pay paradigm? You know, where the gap between the compensation of executives and workers narrows, or where company directors put shareholders’ interests before those of the hired hands?
After looking over the numbers, I asked some experts in the compensation arena if they’d seen any promising shifts toward greater fairness in executive pay.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” said Brian T. Foley, an independent compensation consultant in White Plains.
Still, there were some encouraging signs. Some outliers, like Alan R. Mulally of Ford Motor and James P. Gorman of Morgan Stanley, took pay cuts in 2012 because their company’s performance declined. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
(More here.)
RAISES may be hard-won for most American workers these days, but for those fortunate few in the executive suite, the pay increases just keep on coming. Last year, the median chief executive at a United States company with more than $5 billion in revenue received about $14 million, 2.8 percent more than in 2011, according to an annual pay analysis conducted by Equilar. The 2012 increase, though relatively modest, still represents a raise for most of those who inhabit the corner office (and whose companies had filed the data by the end of March).
A more important question may be this: Do this year’s figures show any evidence of progress toward a new pay paradigm? You know, where the gap between the compensation of executives and workers narrows, or where company directors put shareholders’ interests before those of the hired hands?
After looking over the numbers, I asked some experts in the compensation arena if they’d seen any promising shifts toward greater fairness in executive pay.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” said Brian T. Foley, an independent compensation consultant in White Plains.
Still, there were some encouraging signs. Some outliers, like Alan R. Mulally of Ford Motor and James P. Gorman of Morgan Stanley, took pay cuts in 2012 because their company’s performance declined. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
(More here.)
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