How performance-based pay can drive up executive compensation

An increasing focus on performance-based pay and long-term incentives is driving up CEO salaries in japan.

In fiscal year 2019 alone, CEOs saw total pay jump by a huge 20.5 percent, according to a study by Willis Towers Watson (WTW), published at the end of last year. This was, say the study authors, ‘driven by a significant expansion of long-term incentives’ in Japanese pay structures. It also represents a huge jump on the 3.3 percent rise the year before. READ MORE

GE Is Blasted for Revamping Culp’s Pay Package Amid Struggles

A labor-affiliated investor group blasted General Electric Co. for approving a restructured compensation plan last year that lowered the bar for Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp to potentially collect more than $230 million.

The manufacturer has faced a performance and operational crisis due to “years of poor board oversight,” CtW Investment Group Executive Director Dieter Waizenegger said Tuesday in a letter to GE director Risa Lavizzo-Mourey. The group called on GE’s board to permanently separate the CEO and chairman roles and refrain from re-nominating the five members of the executive compensation committee for approving the pay plan. READ MORE

Evidence-Based Performance Management

Performance management is one of the most talked about and written about topics within talent management. Periodically, the practitioner literature contains numerous articles about “new” strategies for doing performance management effectively. Despite that, it is one of the two elements of talent management that are viewed most negatively by both employees and managers. Rewards management is the other. READ MORE

Behavioral Economics in Compensation Strategy

Behavioral economics research can teach us many ways that our compensation programs can be more effective.

The findings can also make us wiser in our day-to-day work. Some of the findings verify long-held beliefs but many more are counterintuitive. So if we remain unaware of the research findings, we will literally be less effective than we can be. Not a great foundation for a compensation practice! Especially since there are numerous findings that should be applied to plan design. READ MORE

How climate change can be addressed through executive compensation

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are increasingly becoming incorporated across all aspects of organizations, including business strategies, operations and product/service offerings.

Recent global research of boards of directors by Willis Towers Watson found that 70 to 80 percent of respondents have identified ESG priorities and developed ESG implementation plans. However, only 48 percent have fully incorporated ESG into their businesses, indicating that organizations are at different stages in their ESG journeys. While the most cited reason for taking ESG actions is that they see it as the right thing to do, over three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents indicate that they believe ESG is a key contributor to strong financial performance. READ MORE

SEC enforces a clawback for accounting violations

Remember the clawback provision of SOX 304? That provision provides a reimbursement remedy against CEOs and CFOs when the issuer has restated its financial statements as a result of misconduct. Although the provision was enacted in 2002, it wasn’t until 2007 that an executive was successfully hit with a clawback claim (and a big one it was—the executive returned approximately $600 million in cash and options). And since then, SOX 304 hasn’t gotten all that much of a workout. As reflected in this Order, the SEC has just brought settled charges against the former CEO and CFO of WageWorks Inc., alleging that they made false and misleading statements and omissions, including to the company’s outside audit firm, that led to improper revenue recognition and ultimately resulted in a financial restatement. The settlements with both former executives included reimbursement of incentive-based compensation under SOX 304. READ MORE

Want to convince workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine? Try money

As many employers consider their COVID-19 vaccination plans and mull how they’ll get reluctant employees to buy into the vaccines, new data points to one effective strategy: money.

A new survey from Blackhawk Network, a payments provider, finds that although some 40% of respondents are either unsure about getting the vaccine or do not plan to get it, certain incentives could boost vaccination rates. For as little as $100, one-third of employees will agree to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the survey of 1,105 employees finds. READ MORE

Charting The Risk Associated With Common Workplace COVID-19 Vaccine Incentive Programs

Now that a COVID-19 vaccine is becoming increasingly available, how can employers encourage employees to receive it? Beyond requiring the shots as a mandatory condition of employment – which is not an option many employers are currently considering due to the many legal and employee relations questions it raises – one concept appears to be on the minds of most employers: offering employees incentives to take the vaccine. While this may be an attractive option to many employers, you need to understand the risks associated with various possible incentive programs before launching one at your workplace. READ MORE

Business Groups Seek Vaccine Incentive Guidance From EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission should clarify what kinds of incentives employers can legally offer workers to encourage Covid-19 vaccinations, according to a letter signed by more than 40 business groups.

The groups requested in a Monday letter for the workplace civil rights agency to weigh in on incentives, as employers like JBS USA and Aldi offer financial perks like extra pay and bonuses to workers who get vaccinated. READ MORE

Boeing giving employee bonuses despite losing $12B last year

Boeing Co. has said it will dole out annual performance bonuses next month to most employees despite losing $12 billion over the last year during the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the company's employees did not receive annual bonuses last year after it lost $636 million in 2019 because of the grounding of the 737 MAX by the Federal Aviation Administration, The Seattle Times reported. READ MORE