Inside The Black Box Of CMO Compensation: What Is Negotiable And What Isn't

Navigating the CMO job offer. What is negotiable (and what isn’t), how best to negotiate, and when not to press? These are questions CMOs struggle to answer. To shed light on these questions, I talked with Richard Sanderson, former leader of the marketing officers executive search practice at Russell Reynolds Associates and currently a consultant for Spencer Stuart. In prior articles, Sanderson discussed the five mistakes CMOs make when negotiating an offer and the steps CMOs can take to protect themselves. Below, Sanderson provides insight on the negotiation to help CMOs better understand what levers to pull--and which to ignore. READ MORE

Total Compensation Has Flatlined for All But the Top 10%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has long provided something called the Employer Cost Index. The idea behind this number is that it includes the total cost of employing someone: wages, of course, but also health care, retirement benefits, paid leave, etc. This is useful because it tells us how much employers really have to spend to hire an extra person. Here’s the answer for the past decade: READ MORE

One reliable way to raise wages is to … you know … raise wages

While middle-class wages haven’t grown much in inflation-adjusted terms over the past few years, that’s not the case for many lower-wage workers. Recent analysis by economist Elise Gould shows, for example, that while median pay was unchanged in 2017, low pay — the 10th-percentile wage, meaning 90 percent of workers earn more — rose at a strong clip of 3.7 percent. Follow-up work by Gould shows roughly similar results through the first half of this year. READ MORE

New IRS Guidance Regarding Section 162(m)’s Deduction Limitation for Executive Compensation

The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) recently issued Notice 2018-68 (the “Notice”) that provides guidance regarding the application of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Section 162(m)”) following the amendments contained in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”). While helpful in clarifying certain issues, the Notice narrowly interprets key aspects of the amended Section 162(m) in a manner that is likely to increase the complexity of compliance and greatly restrict eligibility for grandfathering of pre-TCJA compensation arrangements. READ MORE

52% of workers say a ‘higher salary’ is needed to remain at their company

New research from Eightfold shows that 52% of workers surveyed say they’d remain at their company for a heftier paycheck. But, while 30% want a new position where they work now, 53% want a new one at a different workplace. Furthermore, while 55% of employees say they get “unsolicited messages from recruiters at least once per week,” 78% say they’re open to it. READ MORE

Incentive Compensation That is Never Subject to Income Tax – Too Good to Be True?

Clients frequently ask if they can provide incentive compensation to their employees and executives in a manner that gives them flexibility and drives performance, but receives coveted capital gains treatment. This usually sounds too good to be true. In most cases, you can defer or sometimes minimize income tax for employees (retirement plans, deferred compensation arrangements, stock appreciation rights, non-qualified stock options), but there is one tool that enables employees to skip income tax, FICA, and withholding altogether – well-designed and-well managed incentive stock options or “ISOs.” READ MORE

NQDC plans: Solutions in search of a problem

In this roaring economy, much has been written about employers reinvesting tax breaks to sweeten benefit packages and take-home pay, but what about the nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) area? Kirk Wolf, managing regional VP of nonqualified plans and principal securities for Principal Financial Group, explains to EBA how these plans fit into the war on talent and the importance of periodic benchmarking, as well as applying their inherent flexibility to commonly faced issues and communicating their value. READ MORE