Amazon.com Inc.'s median salary of $28,446 raised the hackles of low-pay campaigners last week; understandably so given the vast worth of the company. But Zuckerberg could take a leaf out of the Jeff Bezos book. While Facebook's median salary is almost 10 times bigger than Amazon's, it badly needs to employ more eyeballs on not-such exalted wages to fix the problems it can't catch with automation. READ MORE
Wells Fargo CEO's pay details spark pushback by some employees
Wells Fargo & Co’s disclosure of how its chief executive’s pay compares to the rest of its workforce has drawn criticism from some company employees ahead of the scandal-plagued bank’s annual shareholder meeting. READ MORE
Multiple uses of a deferred compensation plan in the workplace
If your business clients want to reward employees for their loyal service after a five-, 10- or 20-year period and keep them around for longer, a deferred compensation plan can work well. READ MORE
Wells Fargo agrees to pay $1 billion fine — but compensation for victims isn’t assured
Wells Fargo agreed on Friday to pay a $1 billion fine to government regulators to settle the banking behemoth’s misdeeds over improper practices in its auto insurance and mortgage businesses, the latest scandal to engulf the banking behemoth — but it’s not assured that victims of the abuses will ever receive any cash as a result of the agreement. READ MORE
How to help employees realize the full value of equity compensation
Owning a piece of the company pie has become part of the financial picture for millions of American workers as equity compensation programs grow in popularity. The advantages of equity compensation plans extend to employees and employers alike. For the former, it can be a critical tool for building long-term wealth, and for the latter, it can foster greater employee loyalty and longevity. READ MORE
How to Ask About Compensation in a Job Interview
For some, “comp” is deliberately discussed at the very beginning to qualify a candidate’s viability upfront. For others, it’s a topic that remains unaddressed until it’s time to talk turkey. But waiting to discuss money until the interview process is at completion is not a wise move. READ MORE
The Basics Of Executive Compensation In Employment Law Cases
When joining or exiting a company, executives face unique challenges to ensure their rights are protected given the variety of compensation they receive beyond a salary.
Knowing precisely what your compensation consists of and how to maximize its value during negotiations is essential. READ MORE
How companies get approval to pay executive bonuses during bankruptcy
Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, with more than $5 billion of debt on its books and plans to reorganize.
Two months later, the retailer did something that might seem a little strange. It asked a judge for permission to pay its executives $32 million in bonuses. READ MORE
Median CEO pay at largest companies reaches a record $15.7 million
CEO pay is up yet again. A booming stock market and bulging equity awards propelled the median 2017 compensation for CEOs of the 100 largest companies to the highest figure in 11 years, according to a new analysis.
The report, released Wednesday by executive compensation and governance research firm Equilar, examines pay of the 100 largest public companies by revenue, and comes in advance of broader CEO pay rankings that typically arrive later in the spring and analyze the companies of the entire Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. READ MORE
Executive Compensation in the Age of Populism
Executive compensation and corporate governance are front-and-center topics for professionals in the U.S., Western Europe and elsewhere around the world. READ MORE
Stockholder Challenges to Executive Compensation
Investors, proxy advisory services and corporate governance watchdogs closely monitor executive compensation, and express their views on executive pay in diverse fora, ranging from advisory Say on Pay votes required under the Dodd-Frank Act to a CEO Salary Watchdog Facebook page. READ MORE
Netflix Accused of Violating U.S. Tax Law in Bonuses to Top Executives
When Congress passed sweeping tax changes at the end of last year, Netflix became one of the first companies to restructure its compensation to top executives. The amended tax law no longer allowed companies to deduct performance-based bonuses to those managers making more than $1 million. So in light of the change, Netflix scrapped cash bonuses in favor of a higher salary. A new lawsuit first filed under seal late last week questions what Netflix was doing before the change. READ MORE
Emanuel bans quizzing new hires about salary history
In a move of both political and governmental import, Mayor Rahm Emanuel today ordered all city departments to refrain from asking job applicants about their salary history.
The executive order issued today—which is Equal Pay Day nationally—specifically bans questions about an applicant's prior wages, benefits or other compensation, and it forbids similar queries to the applicant's prior employers. READ MORE
The gender pay gap isn't just about what you make.
Historically, we think of these as "female" jobs. But that's not only an assumption — it's also the actual job market.
"Occupational segregation" is the term academics use to refer to this split, with women historically relegated to lower-paying, "support" jobs (think secretary or office manager) and men taking the higher-paying, "glamour" jobs (think boss, manager, etc.). READ MORE
Research suggests female CEOs outearn their male peers
Research suggests that in the most rarefied circles, women might actually earn more than men.
In 2017, the annual Equilar/Associated Press CEO Pay Study found that the median compensation for female CEOs was $13,093,444, and the average was $14,488,643. Meanwhile, male CEOs had a median compensation of $11,376,284 and an average of $12,648,010. READ MORE
Wells Fargo’s Wealth Boss Rebuts Report on Advisor Sales Bias
Jon Weiss, the head of Wells Fargo & Co.’s Wealth and Investment Management division, quickly and publicly defended the company’s approach to compensating brokers on Thursday in response to a Bloomberg News report suggesting that its wealth employees were subject to the same kind of sales quotas and incentives that led to the fake-account scandals at Wells’ consumer bank. READ MORE
Compensation Managers Have Direct Connection With Pay Equity Movement
Advocates of pay equity will call attention to the gender gap in compensation by marking Equal Pay Day on April 10.
The day isn’t exactly a cause for celebration, especially among the professionals who may be tasked with explaining company compensation practices when federal officials detect signs of pay bias. READ MORE
Should You Accept Equity as Compensation?
Startups often lure in star employees with the promise of equity. Why? A lot of startups are short on cash but can issue shares at will and have equity to hand out.
I recently helped a client negotiate his full-time employment agreement with a newly funded startup doing exactly that: providing equity in lieu of higher compensation. We normally deal in freelancers, but we are increasingly being asked to lend our negotiating skills for full-time employment contracts. READ MORE
Who Gets What Slice Of The Pie
Startup equity is one of those things that it’s fair to say every startup founder without an MBA struggles with. Most people don’t have to think about this stuff until it’s really important. But if you’re starting to freak out about who gets what slice of your startup pie, take a deep breath, calm down, and get ready for Startup Equity 101. READ MORE
Director Equity Award Limit In LTIPs: How Companies Are Addressing It This Proxy Season
This proxy season has revealed an intensifying trend to address limitations on grants to non-employee directors in many long-term incentive plans ("LTIPs"). Based on a review of approximately 50 LTIPs submitted for approval this proxy season thus far by Delaware companies, a majority of such LTIPs now include a director-specific limit on the size of annual non-employee director grants and a handful generally permit grants only in pre-determined amounts as set forth in the LTIPs. READ MORE