Global businesses have reached a sustainability inflection point. Stakeholder expectations and heightened investor scrutiny are putting organizations under pressure to articulate their societal roles more clearly, prioritize environmental and social objectives within their business strategies, and demonstrate progress to stakeholders. We also know that employees are prioritizing their employment decisions based on an organization’s purpose, culture, ESG goals, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) priorities. Yet for the most part, corporations have been neglecting a powerful lever for advancing their sustainability agendas: executive compensation. READ MORE
Will Salary Transparency Laws Change Employee Compensation?
As the employment market continues to shift, a worker push for transparency is making headway. About a quarter of U.S. workers now live in states, counties, or cities where employers are legally required to share pay ranges. In some areas, including New York City and the states of Colorado, California, and Washington, employers must list the salary range in job postings. Other localities’ laws oblige companies to share salary ranges upon request, during the interview process, or when extending a job offer. READ MORE
How To Sell Your Stock Options On A Secondary Market
Startup stock options mean something different in 2023.
Many unicorns are staying private for around eight to 10 years while enjoying household name status with public companies like Amazon and Microsoft. READ MORE
New compensation data shows inflation pressure fading
A major undercurrent of last year's entire economic policy debate has been this question: Is compensation for American workers spiraling upward because of a tight job market destined to fuel inflation? READ MORE
CFOs to boost compensation
While CFOs typically budget more for compensation every year, ongoing inflationary pressures and a still-tight labor market puts compensation plans “front and center” in CFOs’ “ability to engage and retain top talent,” Bant said in an interview. READ MORE
Intel Slashes CEO Pay by 25% as Part of Companywide Cuts
Intel Corp., struggling with a rapid drop in revenue and earnings, is cutting management pay across the company to cope with a shaky economy and preserve cash for an ambitious turnaround plan.
Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger is taking a 25% cut to his base salary, the chipmaker said Tuesday. His executive leadership team will see their pay packets decreased by 15%. Senior managers will take a 10% reduction, and the compensation for mid-level managers will be cut by 5%. READ MORE
Private-Sector Wage and Salary Increases Slightly Slow in 4th Quarter
Employee compensation growth has slightly cooled again, according to new data released today, suggesting wage growth may have peaked since its record jump in mid-2022.
Labor compensation costs in the U.S. for private sector workers—including pay and benefits—increased 5.1 percent year-over-year from a 4.4 percent increase a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Jan. 31 in its quarterly Employment Cost Index (ECI). That's slowed from the third quarter index, released in October, which found that wage growth grew 5.2 percent year-over-year, and from 5.5 percent year-over-year growth from the second quarter of 2022.
Overall, compensation costs for civilian workers climbed 1 percent in the third quarter. READ MORE
SEC Enforcement Activity Destabilizes Corporate Governance Related to Executive Incentive Compensation
Recent pronouncements and enforcement activity by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reflect a singular agency focus on the importance of clawing back incentive compensation after instances of executive misconduct, even if how these agencies compel companies to do so may have unintended consequences. READ MORE
ESG investing statistics 2023
ESG investing involves investing in companies or funds based on how well they perform on environmental, social and corporate governance measures. ESG investing has grown in popularity in recent years due to the influence of factors such as climate change and social justice on investors, according to the CFA Institute.
The practice began in the 1960s and has gained traction in the investing world since.
Here’s what each area of ESG means: READ MORE
How Do Some Executives Pay Taxes? By Selling Stock With Insider Information, Study Suggests
Insider trading — or trading stocks using non-public knowledge to gain an advantage — is supposed to be a big no-no for investors. It’s something Securities and Exchange rules make it clear, as will any competent securities lawyer. When non-public but material knowledge of what is happening in a company make significant profits, that happens on the backs of ordinary stock owners who don’t have the same information. For each winner in a trade there’s going to be a loser.
How frequently does it happen? Well, 78 members of Congress apparently violated a law that the legislative branch itself helped create to prevent potentially shady stock trading by politicians, according to a report by Business Insider. Excuses included “ignorance of the law, clerical errors, and mistakes by an accountant.” READ MORE
SEC Settlement With McDonald's and Ex-CEO Signals Potential Expansion of Executive Compensation Disclosure Requirements
On January 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had reached a settlement with McDonald's and its former CEO, Stephen Easterbrook, for charges stemming from McDonald's 2019 termination of Easterbrook for violating company policy by engaging in "an inappropriate personal relationship" with a McDonald's employee. McDonald's was charged with failing to disclose material information to investors regarding Easterbrook's termination in what the dissenting commissioners called a "case of first impression." As a consequence of its cooperative and substantial assistance to the SEC staff, however, McDonald's ultimately avoided the imposition of monetary penalties. READ MORE
Will Salary Transparency Laws Change Employee Compensation?
As the employment market continues to shift, a worker push for transparency is making headway. About a quarter of U.S. workers now live in states, counties, or cities where employers are legally required to share pay ranges. In some areas, including New York City and the states of Colorado, California, and Washington, employers must list the salary range in job postings. Other localities’ laws oblige companies to share salary ranges upon request, during the interview process, or when extending a job offer. READ MORE
Employers slowed their increases of workers’ wages last quarter
Employers continued to raise wages during the fourth quarter to attract workers and hold on to existing staff, though the pace of the increases slowed from the previous quarter.
While workers won’t be happy that the pay boosts still aren’t keeping up with inflation, the deceleration will likely please the Federal Reserve, which meets this week to determine how much more to hike interest rates. READ MORE
CEO pay cuts could be just the start
Corporate boards are slashing the pay of some leading CEOs in a new trend that could just be getting started.
The pay cuts are hitting some of America’s best-known and highest-paid bosses, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. READ MORE
10 Certifications That Can Boost Your Salary
In a competitive job market and with increasing layoffs — especially in the tech sector — every differentiator can make a huge impact. One way to go about this is getting a professional certification, which can not only expand or refresh certain skills and make you stand out but also, in many cases, boost your salary as well. READ MORE
FTC’s blanket non-compete ban is solving the wrong problem
Opinions continue to pile up on the FTC’s recent aggressive proposal to ban the use of non-competes for all employees in almost any circumstance. Those in favor seem to be arguing that it is needed to prevent harm to rank-and-file workers while ignoring the fact that for many companies, especially large corporations, non-compete agreements are an important part of executive compensation. READ MORE
Advertised salary ranges are not set in stone. That’s why you still have to negotiate
Now that more and more states are requiring companies to advertise salary ranges for open roles, you may assume the range is the range and you can’t negotiate for more.
Not true. READ MORE
Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon latest CEO hit with pay cut
The Goldman Sachs Group cut CEO and chair David Solomon’s salary by $10 million in 2022, after Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested his own pay reduction earlier in the month.
The investment bank’s board reduced Solomon’s salary to $25 million in 2022 from $35 million in 2021 based on Goldman Sachs’ performance assessment framework when compared with the firm’s performance in 2021. READ MORE
McDonald's president blasts California proposal to hike minimum wage
As part of a California law facing voters in the November 2024 ballot, lawmakers are pushing to raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers from $15.50 to $22 per hour. One fast food president, however, raised his concern over the policy.
"Whether you're a lawmaker, a business owner or leader or an everyday voter, one thing is clear: California has become a dramatic case study of putting bad politics over good policy," McDonald's USA President Joe Erlinger wrote in an open letter Wednesday. READ MORE
Teacher who quit career for Costco job blames low salary and burnout
Former teacher Maggie Perkins chose to uproot her 8-year-long career to work at Costco – a decision she spontaneously shared on TikTok and attracted the attention of more than 4 million people.
Perkins told FOX Business host Stuart Varney, Wednesday, that although she had a "love" for teaching, it was "other parts of the job" that caused her to be overwhelmed and in turn, "burn out." READ MORE