Getting Ahead of this Proxy Season

Investor losses resulting from stock market crashes have driven most major turns in corporate governance. In this century, director independence and audit/accounting assurance came into focus after the dotcom bubble and Enron; executive compensation and shareholder influence took center stage after the Financial Crisis.

Today's fixation on ESG/DEI is different. READ MORE

Stanford GSB Graduated The Highest-Paid MBAs Of All Time In 2021

Stanford has released its 2021 MBA employment report, the last top school to do so

As we’ve seen in the release of employment reports from top-25 programs throughout fall and winter, the pandemic whirlwind has failed to cause long-term damage to job prospects for MBAs from elite business schools. If you want further evidence, take it from the top top program: Stanford Graduate School of Business. READ MORE

Microsoft’s Activision deal may give scandal-plagued CEO a $375 million windfall

Last year, Activision Blizzard Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick received a 50% pay cut. This year, he’s up for a $375.3 million windfall.

That’s the amount the video-game executive stands to receive before taxes when Microsoft Corp. completes its $68.7 billion deal to buy Activision. It’s a remarkable payout for a leader whose recent tenure has been marked by employee complaints over sexism, a hostile work culture and mismanagement of assault claims. READ MORE 

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