Usually when we see rising wages, the economy is growing. So how is it that April 2020 – the month when the U.S. economy lost 21 million jobs – saw some of the fastest wage growth in recent memory? And if wage growth slows in the coming months, or even goes into negative territory, what would that tell us about the economic recovery? We explain in this blog why we believe that two measurement issues—composition of the labor force and base effects—explain these trends and why average wage data will be easy to misinterpret in the coming months. READ MORE
Shareholder groups urge 'no' vote on GE exec pay
The two most influential proxy advisory groups came out last week against General Electric Co.’s compensation packages for CEO Larry Culp and other top executives, taking particular umbrage with last year’s changes to Culp’s employment agreement.
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. both advised GE shareholders to cast “nay” votes on the Boston-based company’s executive compensation at its annual meeting May 4. The pay-package vote is non-binding. READ MORE
Tech billionaires are staying “very, very quiet” on proposals to tax their wealth
Billionaires like Bill Gates have long said that they, theoretically, would be in favor of paying much more money in personal taxes.
And yet Gates and some of the wealthiest people in the world are staying silent on a series of active proposals that would do just that, sidestepping a legislative package in their home state of Washington that targets them specifically. READ MORE
A catch-22 for women: Negotiating for higher pay can backfire, study finds
Working women have been tutored to "lean in" when it comes to pushing for higher pay on the job — after all, passively accepting an employer's first offer may not pay off, the thinking goes. But negotiating for more women or a promotion may not be so simple, even for high-powered women with strong bargaining positions, a recent study concludes. READ MORE
CEO who gave employees $70K minimum wage says revenue tripled 6 years later
A CEO who cut his own salary to give all of his employees a minimum wage of at least $70,000 per year says his company's revenue has tripled since he made the move.
"6 years ago today I raised my company's min wage to $70k. Fox News called me a socialist whose employees would be on bread lines," Dan Price, the CEO of Seattle-based credit card processing company Gravity Payments, tweeted Tuesday. "Since then our revenue tripled, we're a Harvard Business School case study & our employees had a 10x boom in homes bought." READ MORE
How Organizations Can Recover from the Pandemic’s Impact on Pay Equity and Transparency
The gender pay gap has taken a hit during the pandemic, with economists predicting it may take nearly 20 years to recover to pre-pandemic levels of equality. At the same time, the workplace has been completely transformed, likely for good, with changes resulting from an overnight switch to remote work and fluctuating economic uncertainty.
But how have these changes impacted worker perceptions of their employers, and where do employees’ priorities stand moving forward? READ MORE
GE boss faces revolt over bonus as shareholder adviser bares its teeth
General Electric is heading for a showdown over a $47m bonus for its chief executive Larry Culp, after the two largest shareholder advisers recommended investors vote against the pay package in protest at the decision to relax his performance targets. READ MORE
House Democrats advance equal pay bill over Republican objections
House lawmakers on Thursday passed legislation targeting the gender pay gap, known as the Paycheck Fairness Act, though the bill advanced without the support of Republicans.
The final vote tally was 217-210.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., was the only Republican that voted in favor of the measure, as noted by C-Span reporter Craig Caplan. READ MORE
Closing the gap: Examining executive compensation packages for women
While women have made progress with representation in the C-suite and on company boards, there is still a big gap. According to McKinsey & Company's 2020 Women in the Workplace Study, the number of women serving in the C-suite has increased from 17% in 2015 to 21% in 2020. However, when you look at the top C-suite roles, named executive officers (NEOs) for proxy reporting, the gap enlarges to seven to one, according to Morningstar research on proxy disclosures of the Russell 3000 companies. READ MORE
New Legions of Remote Workers Puts Geographic Pay Policies in the Spotlight
Geographic pay policies, a.k.a. localized compensation, are in flux. Of the 62% of organizations with existing geographic pay policies, 44% are considering modifying or have recently modified their policies due to the increase of full-time remote work, according to WorldatWork's Geographic Pay Policies Study. With 67% of employees expecting their compensation to reflect their location, geographic pay is a critical issue for employers 1) striving to improve the workforce experience and 2) recruiting/retaining top talent. Pay policy prevalence, geographic pay philosophies, determinants of employees' geographic pay location, modification approaches, remote work flexibility, and limiting factors, among other variables, were measured. Organizations and employees were surveyed separately. READ MORE
Executives' Pay Deters Big Oil From Acting On Climate Change
The way executives at large oil companies are paid encourages these companies to extract more fossil fuels, a study has suggested, as reported by The Guardian, who said it was given exclusive access to the findings.
The study came from the Climate Accountability Institute, an organization that says about itself that it "engages in research and education on anthropogenic climate change, dangerous interference with the climate system, and the contribution of fossil fuel producers' carbon production to atmospheric carbon dioxide content." READ MORE
5 Tips For Mastering Pay-For-Performance Compensation
The concept of “paying for performance” is central to sales and service organizations. Examples include paying retail associates based on product sales, trainers based on number of classes taught, salespeople based on quota achievement, insurance agents for policies sold, and so forth. Trillions of dollars are spent every year on commission-based pay. Research suggests this is money well spent. Except when it isn’t. To quote Dr. Barry Gerhart, “Pay-for-performance seems capable of producing spectacularly good results. It can likewise produce spectacularly bad results.” READ MORE
Meet the Highest Paid CEO in S&P 500, Paycom’s $211 Million Man
Move over, Elon Musk and Tim Cook. There is a new name breaking into the list of the highest-paid chief executives: Chad Richison, the founder and CEO of payroll processor Paycom Software Inc.
The Oklahoma City billionaire last year was awarded compensation valued at $211 million by Paycom, the company disclosed in the annual proxy statement it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. READ MORE
CEO Hits Back At Fox News After They Derided Him For Offering $70,000 Minimum Salaries
Back in 2015, the tech entrepreneur shocked the business world by slashing his own $1.1 million pay package to help fund a minimum “living wage” of $70,000 for all workers at his credit card processing company Gravity Payments.
Price’s decision led to him being heavily criticized as a “socialist” on Fox News and Fox Business. In addition, some clients dropped Gravity for reasons that included fears the salary hike would cause their rates to rise. READ MORE
Early Say on Pay Trends Show Tide Turning Toward More Shareholder Dissent
Marking its 10th anniversary this year, Say on Pay has been trumpeted as a critical voice for shareholders to rein in rising, outsized levels of executive compensation. Yet since the provision was enacted in 2011, median CEO pay has increased nearly every year while the percentage of companies that receive overwhelming approval on this measure has been consistently high. There's been a question as to whether this non-binding vote actually works toward its intended purpose, and perhaps that it even has additional unintended consequences. READ MORE
Salary Negotiation: How To Answer 'What Are Your Salary Expectations?'
You received a job offer for your dream role at your target company. Now comes the salary negotiation phase. Salary negotiation is one of the most stressful and confusing aspects of the job search process. READ MORE
Before You Make an Employee a Salary Offer, Consider What They're Really After
Despite what you might hear, compensation is not the primary motivator for most people. Sure, as I have written about before, some people are what I call "coin-operated." These are the folks that make great salespeople because they are motivated by making more money.
But many people aren't like this. You can think of their motivation as a thermostat. They don't want it too hot or too cold--most people want to be paid at a level that seems fair to them. There are other intrinsic factors that are more important to high performers, like the company mission. READ MORE
Biden tax increases would hurt US competitiveness, slow wage growth, CEOs say
A majority of the nation's top CEOs agree that President Biden's plan to raise the corporate tax rate in order to pay for his nearly $2.3 trillion spending proposal will hurt business competitiveness and slow wage growth. READ MORE
Jim Cramer Says He Would 'Absolutely' Take Compensation in Bitcoin
Stock market expert and television pundit Jim Cramer was asked this morning if he would be willing to take compensation in Bitcoin while talking about the news of MicroStrategy (MSTR) paying board members in the crypto.
"Yes absolutely. I think it is a store hold of value. I think this is a $2 trillion market cap maybe going to $3 trillion," said Cramer during an interview this morning on CNBCs Squawk Box. READ MORE
Illinois Employers Must Report Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Compensation Data and Practices
Under amendments to the Illinois Business Corporation Act and the Illinois Equal Pay Act, certain corporations will be required, beginning in 2023 and continuing thereafter, to report data concerning the gender, race, and ethnicity makeup of their workforces, along with information about their compensation practices and efforts to comply with equal pay laws. Much of this information will become public, and failure to report the necessary information can lead to significant penalties. READ MORE