Navigating executive pay trends in 2024

As we edge closer to the new year, the landscape of executive compensation is undergoing subtle yet notable shifts. These shifts look set to carry over into the new year and beyond.

Chief Executive Research's recently released CEO & Senior Executive Compensation Report provides a comprehensive view of the state of executive pay going into 2024. Let's delve into the key highlights and trends shaping the compensation landscape. READ MORE

OFCCP Compliance: Proactively Prepare for Compensation Audits

Expanding OFCCP compliance is part of a wider shift to drive pay equity at the federal level.

Earlier this year on August 25, 2023, the OFCCP announced its updated Supply and Service Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing. Changes to the scheduling letter are far-reaching. Significant amendments relate to the scope of required employee level compensation data, factors used to determine pay, and documentation that help explain factors and reasoning used to determine compensation. READ MORE

This is why we need to tie executive compensation to DEI goals

Recently, Salesforce became the latest high-profile company to link executive pay to DEI goals. As of February 2022, a portion of Salesforce’s executive variable pay for those at the executive VP and above level will be determined by four ESG measures—such as increasing the percentage of underrepresented employees in the U.S. and abroad.

Salesforce, with its 29,000 employees scattered around the world, added its name to the growing list of companies that link executive compensation to diversity targets. McDonald’s, Starbucks, Microsoft, and Alcoa are among the others that practice this type of pay-for-performance. READ MORE

Here's the average pay raise employees can expect in 2024

With prices still running hot around the U.S., millions of workers are counting on a large enough annual pay bump to keep them a step ahead of inflation next year. 

Employers plan to offer an average salary increase of 4% for 2024, according to a new survey from WTW, which advises companies on compensation issues. That figure is slightly lower than in 2023, when raises averaged 4.4%, but still tops the roughly 3% increase companies were offering in previous years, the consulting firm found.  READ MORE

CEO Salary Growth Slowing Into 2024

Striking the right compensation balance that allows a private company to measure up when competing with peers for leadership talent can be difficult. The data, after all, isn’t public, and most headlines focus on CEO compensation at the largest public companies in the country, hardly a reference point for those operating in the middle market.  READ MORE

Forget Growth At All Costs: How To Drive Efficient Growth With Compensation

The “growth at all costs” mindset is a thing of the past. The volatility of the market in recent years has forced most businesses to think about more sustainable growth practices. Many now consider motivation-focused strategies to be essential for cultivating and sustaining high-performance revenue organizations.

But with that in mind, many business leaders still find themselves asking: How can we drive revenue more efficiently without burning out the resources that remain? READ MORE

Publicly Traded Companies: Don’t Forget to Register Plan Interests in Deferred Compensation Plans

Publicly traded companies generally file registration statements on Form S-8 to register the offering of the company’s stock pursuant to the company’s equity incentive plans under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (Securities Act). This same filing requirement applies under certain circumstances to a company’s nonqualified deferred compensation plans. READ MORE

Christmas bonuses could be a casualty of inflation, survey finds

Christmas bonuses could be on the chopping block at small businesses around the U.S. this holiday season as persistent inflation may play the role of the Grinch, according to a new survey.

The November edition of the Freedom Economy Index, a joint project of PublicSquare and RedBalloon, surveyed small business owners and found that 42% of business owners who traditionally give Christmas bonuses to their employees said they can’t afford them this year.  READ MORE

“Computed Without Regard to Taxes Paid”: The Individual Tax Consequences of Compensation Clawbacks

Compensation clawbacks can raise difficult, and often adverse, tax issues for employees and other service providers. Specifically, for clawbacks that are effected on a gross (pretax) basis, questions arise as to how the clawback is treated for income tax purposes and what avenues an individual may have for recovering any taxes previously paid on the recouped amount. As we describe in this client alert, the answers to these questions are far from straightforward, often counterintuitive, and largely dependent on the facts and circumstances of the original payment and its clawback. As a result, an affected individual’s likelihood of being made whole for taxes previously paid on recouped compensation will often need to be critically evaluated by a personal tax advisor. READ MORE

Resolution Could Invalidate Rule on Prevailing Wage

A group of Republican lawmakers recently took steps to scrap the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL's) final rule updating the prevailing wages for construction workers on federal contracts. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act on Nov. 15. So far, 22 U.S. Representatives have signed on.

The prevailing wage is the minimum rate that an employer must pay to workers on federal construction projects in a particular location. We've gathered a group of articles on the topic from SHRM Online and other trusted sources. READ MORE

NYSE and Nasdaq set for December 1 deadline to enforce executive pay clawback rules

U.S. stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq, are on the cusp of enforcing new rules that will require listed companies to reclaim incentive-based compensation from executives in the event of financial restatements due to material noncompliance. This regulatory shift, driven by the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Rule 10D-1, mandates that by December 1, 2023, NYSE and Nasdaq-listed entities must have recovery policies in place. These policies are applicable to incentive pay awarded to executive officers over the past three fiscal years. READ MORE

Strengthening pay practices

2023 marked the first time in four years S&P 500-listed issuers awarded compensation packages based on a down market. In 2022, the S&P 500 index’s total return was -19.4% and companies generally responded as investors would expect, with average granted compensation for companies in the index decreasing to $15.7 million in 2022, down from $17.5 million in 2021.

Despite these tough market conditions, investors responded positively to more modest CEO payouts. 2023 marked the first proxy season in five years where support for advisory “say on pay” proposals at S&P 500 companies increased in comparison to the previous year. Proposals of this kind received 92.1% support on average in 2017, bottoming out at 87.7% average support in 2022. 2023, however, bucked the trend, with “say on pay” resolutions winning 88.9% average support, according to Diligent Market Intelligence’s (DMI) Voting module. READ MORE

Linking executive compensation to D&I metrics in the wake of SFFA: Action steps for public companies to consider

Anti-ESG sentiment has been on the rise – shareholder proposals questioning the wisdom of ESG initiatives, including those designed to foster diversity and inclusion (D&I), have more than doubled within the past three years. Additionally, some stakeholders are bringing litigation aiming to curtail corporate D&I initiatives, including shareholder derivative claims for breach of fiduciary duty, classic assertions of reverse discrimination, securities fraud claims, and claims that specific corporate policies violate state and federal anti-discrimination statutes. READ MORE

Show Me The Money! Trends in Executive Compensation

As the calendar inches closer to 2024, a pivotal concern looms large in the minds of most employees: cash bonuses.

However, for executives, especially those who work for private companies that may be involved in a potential sale or merger, their calculus is different. Rather than fixating solely on traditional year-end bonuses, executives are focused on creative and tax-efficient ways to maximize compensation, both now and at other inflection points throughout the year. READ MORE

3 questions to empower top talent through nonqualified deferred compensation plans

We know offering a robust retirement plan helps attract and retain in-demand executives, reduce turnover expenses, and boost the bottom line. But far from being table stakes, your retirement offering gives you an opportunity to differentiate yourself amongst the competition and attract top talent. As part of that package, you may consider including a nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan offering for your leadership staff. READ MORE