Deferred compensation plans offer highly compensated and key employees an opportunity to earn performance awards, defer compensation and taxes until a later date, reduce certain payroll taxes, informally find executive life insurance agreements, and help facilitate buy-in for business succession plans. READ MORE
The 25 big companies with the best compensation
Workplace review site Comparably just published its annual ranking of places with the best compensation, and Adobe ranked number one on the list focused on companies with over 500 employees, or large companies. READ MORE
These executives are asking their staff to work less for the same money. Will it pay off?
It wasn’t hard for Samantha Losey, managing director of Unity, a public relations firm in London, to convince her team to work fewer hours for the same paycheck.
But it was an uphill battle to persuade her own board to join the world’s biggest pilot of the four-day work week. READ MORE
Restricted Stock Units - “Vest Day is the Best Day!”
Restricted Stock Units (or “RSUs”) continue to gain traction as part of company compensation plans. Not only are they a great way to incentivize employees with shares of company stock at future dates, but they are also a tremendous tool to help retain top talent from the employer perspective. The present value of your RSU grant is known up front, while the future value is highly uncertain as it’s tied directly to your company’s stock price – and your tenure around vesting schedules. READ MORE
The How and When of Separations from Service Under Section 409A
Readers who regularly work with deferred compensation plans will know that Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 409A”) prescribes six events or times at which deferred compensation may be distributed to participants in a deferred compensation arrangement. READ MORE
A General Tax Overview of Corporate Equity Arrangements
While there are possible variations on each type of arrangement, there are, in general, six types of equity compensation plans that can be offered to employees: READ MORE
Salary Transparency Can Be A Big Victory For Workers—And A Huge Headache For Employers
If New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs a new law mandating the inclusion of salary or compensation ranges on job descriptions, the state will follow the path of Colorado and Washington state where pay transparency laws are currently in effect. The new law will become effective on November 1 in New York City, and statewide next year. READ MORE
New California law will require most employers to list salary range on job postings
On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would require most employers in California to provide salary ranges for open positions to applicants and workers.
The bill would affect all employers in the state with at least 15 workers to include the hourly rate or salary range on job listings, according to CNBC. READ MORE
The Remote (Worker) is Broken! Workers’ Compensation and Stay-at-Home Employees
In a post-pandemic world, work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements have become the norm in many industries. While employers and employees have become adept at hosting Zoom and Teams meetings, this significant uptick in remote work begs the question: What if an employee gets injured while at home? Is this covered by workers’ compensation? If so, when? The answer, as it so often is, is it depends. READ MORE
Sales Compensation: Solving Today’s Market Disruptors
High turnover, recession, rising pay packages, talent shortages, inflation, supply chain delays, excess inventory, virtual selling — these are just a few of the disruptions facing sales compensation stakeholders today. These same disruptors might also upend your well-functioning sales compensation program. READ MORE
For the first time since the Great Recession, the super-rich did not get richer this year.
After a roaring 2021, the 400 richest people in the U.S.–along with many Americans–have been hit by rising inflation and falling markets. As a group, this year’s Forbes 400 is $500 billion poorer than they were a year ago. Their total net worth stands at $4 trillion, down 11% from last year. READ MORE
Salary Setbacks Might Be A Reality For Some Remote Workers
Same job. Same experience. Same pay? Not necessarily. What you earn will likely depend on two things: where you live and whether you work from home.
While most workers in today’s job market have the upper hand, thanks in large part to a labor shortage, remote workers might be at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiating wages. READ MORE
Salary Negotiation Strategies for HR Professionals
The largest raises you'll ever get in your career typically come from quitting a job and joining a new employer, though not everyone wants to jump ship. Learning how to negotiate for a pay raise—whether you are job hunting or staying put—is critical if you hope to earn what you're worth in the market. READ MORE
Tech salaries continue to increase as firms search for talent
Tech salaries are still on the rise, according to research by job marketplace Hired, but despite the small talent pool, many think the power will soon lie with hiring firms rather than candidates. READ MORE
SEC Showing Its Claws with Increased Focus on Recouping Executive Comp
The government's focus on clawbacks is at a fever pitch. At the Practicing Law Institute's SEC Speaks conference earlier this month, senior officials within the SEC's Division of Enforcement emphasized the agency's increasing use of the executive compensation clawback provision under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). This comes on the heels of the SEC – once again – reopening comment on a proposed rule for securities exchanges to require listed companies to adopt clawback policies and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco's recent comments around compensation clawbacks. In response, we want to provide an overview of the compensation clawback provision within SOX (Section 304), a brief history of the SEC's use of the provision and key applicability considerations. READ MORE
To cut a firm's emissions, peg its CEO's pay to climate goals
Companies that want to reduce their carbon footprint should pay their executives more to make that happen, according to a new working paper (pdf) by economists in California and Europe. READ MORE
5 ways to negotiate a solid executive compensation package in a recession
In 2021, venture capital funding flowed freely into the tech world, bolstering big funding rounds and even bigger salaries at SaaS companies.
But now it’s 2022, and that cash flow has slowed dramatically. Major layoffs have replaced funding announcements, and we’re staring down a possible recession. With outright cash and sky high salaries off the board, negotiating a strong compensation package can seem daunting. READ MORE
DOJ’s Revised Corporate Criminal Enforcement Policies Encourage Voluntary Disclosure and Focus on Compensation
Given DOJ’s continued focus on individual accountability, the new policies will expand DOJ’s evaluation of a company’s compliance program to include corporate compensation systems and the incentives created. In particular, DOJ will assess whether a company uses metrics to reward compliance-promoting behavior as well as clawbacks to deter and punish individuals who engage in corporate misconduct, suggesting that clawbacks appropriately shift the financial burden of misconduct away from shareholders and toward the individuals responsible. DOJ’s Criminal Division has been directed to issue further guidance by the end of the year specifically on how prosecutors should reward companies that adopt compensation incentives and penalties that promote compliance. READ MORE
Amazon tells employees that a software error miscalculated their compensation
Imagine being promoted and finding out that you're going to receive considerable compensation, only for the company to inform you that, due to a software error, the new package isn't as generous as expected. It's a situation faced by around 40% of Amazon corporate employees who were promoted in the current quarter. READ MORE
Executives, And Their Compensation, Are The New Enforcement Targets
As if guiding a company through the maelstrom of inflation, recession, workforce participation and quiet quitting wasn’t enough of a challenge. Corporate executives now find themselves — and their compensation arrangements — at the center of aggressive enforcement initiatives from key government regulators. READ MORE