Some CEOs took a pay cut in 2020. Yet they wound up earning more

As the financial blow of the pandemic became a reality in the spring of 2020, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. furloughed thousands of workers and eliminated 2,100 corporate positions.

The cuts also appeared to hit the C-suite: Chief Executive Christopher Nassetta opted to forgo his entire base salary for the rest of the year, and five other top executives cut their base salary by 50% for four months. READ MORE

Nope, tech salaries aren’t booming like you think they are

A nervous startup founder once confided in me that he just signed a compensation package for a software developer that was twice as rich as his own. The narrative of the pricey tech team is now in the popular imagination. Recent data show that narrative may be outdated.

To many, growth in tech salaries, especially among coveted engineers, has appeared to be nothing short of unrelenting for the last 20 years. For one, salaries have proven fairly recession proof since the 1990s. As software eats the world, the supply of experienced engineers hasn’t kept apace. READ MORE

5 key steps to negotiating a better salary (and what to avoid)

By now you’ve probably heard a lot about about the Great Resignation that’s upon us. According to a study conducted by Microsoft, 41% of workers are contemplating leaving their current job this year. If you’re part of this group, now is a great time to sharpen your negotiating skills, as settling on a competitive salary is a critical final step of the job-search process. Even if you plan on staying at your current workplace for the foreseeable future, the job market might present the perfect opportunity to negotiate a raise.

After all, no matter if you’re a seasoned professional or a recent college grad eager for your first job offer, knowing how to negotiate your salary is vital. Here’s how to get this sometimes-awkward conversation right: READ MORE

Here's What To Know About Hiring Incentives

With a record 9.3 million jobs open in the U.S. as of April, and a workforce in no hurry to get back to work, a growing number of employers are looking to hiring bonuses to fill their ranks. Long a tradition on Wall Street, sign-on bonuses are rare in low-wage work such as fast food, warehousing and food delivery. Now, as the economy has picked up, hiring bonuses are everywhere.

On the jobs site Indeed.com, postings advertising some kind of hiring incentive have more than doubled since last July, according to economist AnnElizabeth Konkel of the Indeed Hiring Lab. Searches for terms such as "hiring bonus" have also doubled, indicating job seekers are intrigued. READ MORE

COVID Related Wage Increases Includible In Regular Rate In FLSA Overtime Case

I have blogged many times about cases where relatively small amounts of compensation, bonus type compensation, are not included when an employer calculates the regular rate for overtime and a class action ensues. Now, this is happening with COVID-related bonuses and extra monies. A recent example is a case where a group of workers have charged that COVID compensation increases were not added into their regular rates. The case is entitled Sanchez v. Gold Standard Enterprises Inc., and was filed in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois. READ MORE

IRS Updates Audit Guide for Nonqualified Plans

The IRS recently updated its Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Audit Techniques Guide. The updated June 2021 Guide (the “2021 Guide”) replaces the previous version published in June 2015 (the “2015 Guide”), and provides a notable expansion of the details surrounding the legal standard applied in reviewing Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (“NQDC”) plans, with an increased emphasis on Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 409A (“Section 409A”). READ MORE

What Happens to Deferred Compensation If I Quit My Job?

A deferred compensation plan is a plan in which employees defer part of their compensation until a later date. Usually, the date when the additional funds are disbursed to the employee is the date of retirement, although some plans enable flexibility for major expenses like children's college or buying a house.

In many circumstances, deferred compensation plans offer certain tax benefits. Here’s what happens to your deferred compensation if you quit your job before your expected retirement date. READ MORE

McDonald’s owners offer tuition, child care to lure burger flippers

McDonald’s Corp. owners are adding emergency child care and other benefits, as many U.S. restaurants are struggling to hire enough workers to run their businesses.

U.S. franchisees of the burger giant aim to boost hourly pay, give workers paid time off and help cover tuition costs to draw enough workers and improve the Golden Arches’ image as an employer. McDonald’s corporate parent said it is making a multimillion-dollar investment to back the franchisee efforts. Franchisees own 95% of the chain’s roughly 13,450 U.S. stores. READ MORE

Business Strategy and Compensation Alignment with a Post-COVID Lens

COVID-19 and the ensuing pandemic produced the largest global economic shock and business transformation period of our lifetimes. And while there were some companies that benefited from the situation, for many others the virus painfully exposed material weaknesses in their business.

We’ve experienced wholesale changes in how work gets done. For workers who could work remotely, there was a pivot to working from home. In fact, Pearl Meyer’s On Point Survey "Work From Home Policies and Practices" found that the work-from-home model may become permanent for many companies. Respondents indicated they expect a third of their total United States-based workforces will continue to work remotely. An interesting lesson here is just how quickly — and seamlessly, for many — this pivot was executed; it happened in a fraction of the time most of us would have thought possible. READ MORE

More Companies Use DE&I as Executive Compensation Metric

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) figures into an increasing number of executive pay programs. But these programs typically are annual bonuses rather than long-term incentives, which lessens their impact.

"In the 12-month period to Sept. 30, 2018, 51 companies in the S&P 500 included a diversity metric in their compensation program. In the 12-month period to Feb. 1, 2021, that number had nearly doubled to 99 companies," according to Glass Lewis, a governance solutions firm, in its report, Racial & Ethnic Diversity in the Boardroom. READ MORE

How some companies play ‘fast and loose’ with executive benefits

The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty to tax crimes on Thursday. Experts say the illegal practices the government alleges occurred may be more common among certain types of companies.

The indictment says the Trump Organization and Weisselberg skirted IRS rules by failing to report so-called “fringe benefits,” a form of employee compensation. READ MORE

What Does Supreme Court Ruling Mean for College Athlete Compensation?

On June 21, the Supreme Court ruled against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) by declaring the organization is violating antitrust laws, a move that will heavily influence college sports for years to come. 

In The National College Athletic Association vs. Alston, the justices voted 9-0 to uphold the lower courts’ ruling that the NCAA can no longer dictate limits on education-related compensation.  READ MORE

How to Integrate ESG into Compensation Programs

On June 16, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1187 (the “Corporate Governance Improvement and Investor Protection Act”), which would require the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to establish rules requiring public companies to disclose certain ESG metrics, including metrics related to climate, board diversity, and employee management and welfare practices. READ MORE

To cope with labor shortages, raise emotional compensation

The current labor shortage and employee retention struggles are concerning issues for organizations. Many leaders are scrambling to attract and retain the workers they need.

A combination of factors has resulted in an insufficient number of workers to meet available jobs: job quits hitting historic highs, declining immigration, and fewer individuals who are of working age (ages 16-64). This labor shortage started before the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to persist for some time. READ MORE

Navigating Post-Pandemic Compensation Challenges

Beginning in March 2020 and stretching into 2021, employers made drastic changes to employee pay as business dried up and uncertainty reigned.

A survey of 2,800 senior managers at U.S. companies, conducted by staffing firm Robert Half during the second half of 2020, found that 57 percent of respondents had suspended salary increases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the situation settled and companies began to feel more confident about their prospects, they reconsidered: READ MORE

Crypto Compensation: Fad or Viable Payment Plan of the Future?

If you’ve paid much attention to financial markets or news in the past year, then you’re at least acutely aware of the cryptocurrency craze that’s taken place in the early stages of 2021.

Bitcoin, the original and most mainstream cryptocurrency, began 2020 at a value of $7,194.89 and surged at the tail end of the year and the first quarter of 2021, reaching a high-water mark of $64,863 in April. Likewise, ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, skyrocketed in value during this time frame, going from around $130 in value to begin 2020 to its current price of $2,119. While ethereum is still around its all-time high, bitcoin has since settled back to $33,475 as of July 1, but both coins’ extreme rise vaulted them into the mainstream conscience, which has since lent itself to many intriguing developments in the space. READ MORE