The Redesign of a Decades-Old Pay Structure

Knowing when and how to refresh your compensation program is a challenge faced by all compensation professionals. It is especially challenging in a well-established organization where the program has been the same for years, or even decades.  

That was the case for Mayo Clinic. Pondering the question, “Is our compensation program meeting the current needs of our organization and helping us to advance into the future?” led Mayo Clinic on a path to refresh a pay structure that had been in place for 20 years. READ MORE

Companies Should Consider Modifying "Change In Control" Definitions In Executive Compensation Arrangements To Avoid Unintended Payment Trigger

Last year, a federal court considered whether a "change in control" had occurred under the terms of a company's Executive Severance Agreement (the "ESA"). The court's decision provides guidance on how a court might interpret a change in control definition under executive compensation arrangements and highlights the need for some companies to consider modifying their definitions for clarity. READ MORE

Compensation strategies for 2022: What employers must do to attract and retain talent

The year 2022 is shaping up to be one of the most challenging in history for employers. The growing imbalance between the number of job openings and the number of candidates willing to fill them is now coupled with the highest inflation rate in four decades. Employers in all industries – from fast-food restaurants to tech giants – are facing increased pressure to raise salaries and hourly wages. READ MORE

CEO's answer to 'Great Resignation' is offering $5K bonuses for new hires to quit

An Arizona CEO is offering a $5,000 bonus for new hires to quit after just two weeks into their new jobs as part of a unique approach to staff retention as a "great resignation" sweeps the American workforce. 

Chris Ronzio, CEO of the Arizona-based software company Trainual that helps small businesses onboard, train and scale teams, is taking a unique approach to the nationwide issue of worker retention by instead paying new hires a $5,000 bonus to quit at the two-week mark into their new jobs. READ MORE

2022 minimum wage increases: Which states are getting raises and by how much

Minimum wages were set to increase on Jan. 1, 2022 in many states across the country, with some rising as high as $15 per hour. Several others states will see increases rolling out over the course of the new year.

The increases come amid rising inflation that continues to outpace wage growth. The latest Consumer Price Index indicated that inflation rose 6.8% annually in November, a nearly 40-year high. Comparatively, wages grew by just 4.9% annually in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. READ MORE

New York City Mayor Eric Adams to Take Bitcoin (BTC) Salary

The U.S government and cryptos have been both friend and foe in recent years. Late last year, the City of Miami was in the news, with Mayor Suarez announcing plans to pay locals Bitcoin (BTC) dividends. Incentivizing Miami residents, “the city is offering to pay Bitcoin (BTC) dividends to any locals who create a digital wallet”. The Miami mayor is no stranger to the crypto market. In early November, news hit the wires of Mayor Suarez taking a Bitcoin (BTC) pay check. With a reported annual salary of $97,000, that would have given him a 0.13BTC pay check in November. READ MORE

What’s your salary requirement? Job seekers, recruiters rethink pay talk

When she started her tech career more than a decade ago, Shanae Chapman soon grew comfortable answering traditional interview questions: greatest strengths (time management, attention to detail), weaknesses (prioritization). “Tell me about yourself” was tricky, at first. No one in her family had ever held a corporate job before. What exactly did the interviewer want to know? She figured it out quickly enough. READ MORE

Investors argue that pharma CEO compensation should be tied to global access to COVID-19 vaccine

On Thursday, a group of institutional investors representing $3.5 trillion in assets under management urged pharmaceutical companies to tie executive pay to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines around the world. On Thursday, a group of institutional investors representing $3.5 trillion in assets under management urged pharmaceutical companies to tie executive pay to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines around the world. While the majority of residents in wealthier countries are vaccinated, and many are now receiving booster injections, vaccination rates on the African continent average approximately 10%. READ MORE

Apple CEO Tim Cook received nearly $100 million in compensation in 2021

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook received almost $100 million in compensation in 2021, a year in which he completed 10 years as the company’s CEO and led the iPhone maker to record profits during a global pandemic.

His $98.7 million pay package rose more than 500% compared with the previous year’s $14.8 million, according to the tech giant’s annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. READ MORE

Walmart among top three companies with largest wage inequality between CEO and employees, study finds

A study conducted at business.org found Nike, Amazon and Walmart have the largest wage inequalities between CEOs and the company’s average worker.

At the Bentonville-based retailer, CEO C. Douglas McMillon reportedly makes $22,105,350 a year, while the average employee salary is $24,960. That means employees would need to work 35,425 hours a week to earn CEO salary. READ MORE

Millions of Businesses Will Be Impacted by NYC's New Salary Law. Here's How to Benefit From It

New York City has a longstanding history as a Mecca for some of the world's brightest minds and most sought -after talent. If it weren't competition enough as it is, NYC just took a seemingly small step, that will prove to greatly extend its lead after passing a new law requiring employers to post salary on job listings. And its effects will be felt amongst companies in all corners of the country come April when it is enacted. READ MORE

How Personalized Compensation Will Affect Companies in 2022

In 2021, personalization has already become a “baseline expectation” for businesses’ customers, and now, human capital is also catching up. While in 2019, 72% of companies have made little to no effort to personalize the benefits they offer their employees, the ongoing Great Resignation⁠—a term for the massive withdrawal of people from their current jobs⁠—has sparked an interesting debate on how to attract and retain talent. Today, many thought leaders have concluded that it’s personalized compensation that turns the tables. READ MORE

The ‘best job in America’ pays up to $125,000 a year — and has 10,000 job openings

Most people want to find a job that keeps up with inflation and provides some level of work-life flexibility, but they also want to be happy. After all, most Americans spend at least eight hours a day working — and often without paid time off.

It’s the $125,000 question in an increasingly unpredictable labor market: How can you have it all? Is there a career that comes with the prospect of a six-figure income, high job satisfaction and has enough job openings to make it a real possibility? READ MORE

ISS to launch new data verification portal

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) plans to launch a new data verification service ahead of the upcoming proxy season.

ISS said that its new portal for U.S. corporations, which will be operational Jan. 10, marks a major expansion of its data verification program used by companies that are covered by the firm’s research and voting recommendations. READ MORE

SEC’s Proposed Buyback Disclosure Rules: Actions Companies Should Consider Taking Now

In addition to the proposed rules regarding insider trading policies that we wrote about a few weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also proposed amendments to its rules regarding disclosure about stock buybacks. The proposed rules would require an issuer to provide a new Form SR before the end of the first business day following the day the issuer executes a share repurchase. The new Form SR would require issuers to identify the class and total amount of securities purchased, the average price paid, and whether the amounts were repurchased in reliance on the safe harbor found in Exchange Act Rule 10b-18 or pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan. READ MORE

Cryptocurrency’s Role in a Total Rewards System

Cryptocurrency is gaining popularity and moving to the mainstream. This digital currency is used to buy goods and services, but it uses an online ledger with solid cryptography to secure online transactions. Some organizations have created their currencies, which can be traded within the company for their services. They are essentially like arcade tokens; one must exchange real currency to access cryptocurrency to retrieve a good or service. READ MORE