What drives companies to offer equity compensation? We've heard the speech ... it fosters employee motivation and performance, it helps with employee retention, it's an alignment of interests, it increases employee loyalty, etc. While all these are true, one big reason that gets less coverage is taxes. Equity compensation has a direct effect on employees' financial planning, which is why it's important that employees understand not only the tax implications but also how to exercise their stock and how to evaluate their options before accepting. READ MORE
Reasonable Compensation Under ERISA: Thoughts on Two Recent Cases
Two recent court decisions bring into focus two seldom-asked questions about the reasonable compensation requirement under ERISA. When must an ERISA plan’s service provider compensation be reasonable? And why shouldn’t a plan fiduciary be able to receive reasonable compensation from the plan even if the fiduciary had a hand in determining the amount of that compensation? The reasoning and holdings in these cases, if followed by other courts, could fundamentally alter the familiar rules on reasonable compensation. READ MORE
Does a $100,000 Annual Salary Mean You’re Rich?
In the 21st century, many people in the workforce are asking themselves how far their money will really go. A $100,000 annual salary may have meant a lot more even just 10 years ago than it does in today’s economy. READ MORE
How your social media posts actually reveal your salary
What you post shows what you make.
Researchers out of London’s Queen Mary University were able to successfully analyze 2.6 million social media posts and accurately assess the financial background of those who shared the messages. READ MORE
70% of Employees Have Discussed Personal Salary With Co-Workers
Salary transparency, an issue that has taken political and legal strides in the workplace, is now making its way into conversations between co-workers. The frequency of these conversations has risen alongside the increase in negotiations in the hiring process, and laws mandating companies provide salary ranges in new job ads.
The efficacy of these salary transparency conversations is up for debate, but according to a survey from invoicing solutions provider Skynova of just over 1,000 full-time employees, these interactions are taking place at a presumably unprecedented pace. Seventy percent of surveyed employees said they have taken part in conversations in which they shared how much money they made with their co-workers. READ MORE
How pay transparency laws affect small businesses
Eight states have adopted pay transparency laws, including California and New York, with several more considering legislation. Much of the buzz around these laws has been regarding large corporations and their employees, but how do small businesses fit into the picture? Here’s what you need to know. READ MORE
Wage hikes may have been a key driver of inflation. They may now be fueling mass layoffs
Central bank officials around the world have said taming inflation is their top priority, but rising prices have turned out to be stickier than originally expected.
The U.S. economy saw a pickup in inflation that began in 2021 amid pandemic-induced supply chain issues. But the current inflation story seems to be more about services than demand constraints. READ MORE
Finding the Right Compensation for Temporary Assignments
Temporary assignments, or the assignment of duties to an employee outside their regular scope on a short-term basis, often come with an increase in direct compensation.
But how should that amount be determined? READ MORE
Pay transparency cuts turnover risk — except for Gen Z
The study results come as new laws requiring companies to disclose salaries when hiring job candidates have been enacted across many states. As of Jan. 1, California and Washington became the latest to require pay ranges to be disclosed with job postings, CFO Dive previously reported. The new regulations and the resulting corporate policies are part of a broader push for pay equity and it is also shifting the balance of power in salary negotiations. READ MORE
5 negotiation tips to maximize your salary (even when hiring managers want to pay less)
When applying for a job, there are lots of variables that impact your decision-making: the location, flexible working, and day-to-day responsibilities. But ultimately, salary is always one of the biggest deciding factors.
Too often, employers will dictate lower salaries in a bid to save money. This is one likely reason why employee turnover is so high today. According to Pew, 63% of workers who quit their jobs do so because of low pay. READ MORE
Pay transparency has left middle managers unprepared to defend salary discrepancies
As more cities and states implement salary transparency laws, it's falling on managers to deal with a barrage of questions, concerns and frustrations this new knowledge can reveal.
Currently, seven states as well as individual cities across the U.S. have salary transparency laws in place that require an organization to include the minimum and maximum pay ranges in job postings. But while 92% of employees are in favor of transparency laws, 63% say these policies will cause problems among coworkers, and 5% would quit if they found out a coworker made more than them, according to data from Resume Builder. READ MORE
Unveiling How Much Top Talent At Apple, Microsoft And Google Get Paid
Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc offer some of the highest salaries in Silicon Valley.
This allows the companies to attract some of the best talent and, in turn, deliver some of the most cutting-edge technology advancements every year. READ MORE
Bill seeks recouping executive pay following bank failure
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) has joined a group of colleagues to introduce legislation that would authorize efforts to recoup executive pay when a bank failure occurs.
Bill proponents noted the Failed Bank Executives Clawback Act would, among other provisions, require the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to regain up to three years of compensation received by bank executives, board members, controlling shareholders and other key decision makers. READ MORE
Tying executive compensation to ESG metrics is pointless and ridiculous
As virtue signals go, environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives are a popular and noisy bandwagon that companies are jumping aboard to show how much their brands care about things that often have little or nothing to do with their bottom-line business success.
An increasing number of companies are even taking the window dressing of doing good to an absurd and sometimes reckless level by tying executive compensation to leadership’s performance on these feel-good metrics. More than 70 per cent of Fortune 500 companies now have baked – or are considering baking – some ESG elements into their executive-compensation formulas. READ MORE
Executive Compensation and Stakeholder Capitalism
Addressing the needs of a range of stakeholders has long been a part of managing a company, though explicit “stakeholder capitalism” has grown in influence in recent years following Business Roundtable’s updates to “The Purpose of the Corporation” in 2019. While the broader stakeholder focus is growing, shareholder value creation is still the primary company objective, implying that financial and shareholder value metrics should remain the most prominent incentive tools for executive pay programs. With the ongoing market evolution, many companies are more actively contemplating broader stakeholders and considering direct adoption of ESG metrics in pay programs. In these cases, many enduring principles of executive compensation should be applied to ESG metrics, including considering the alignment to company strategy and values and the incentive value that a broader view of performance can provide. READ MORE
For the few women who sit atop S&P 500 companies, thinner paychecks as median compensation slips
Last year was a mixed bag pay-wise for the women who run companies in the S&P 500 -- compensation increased for more than half of them, but the median pay package fell 6%.
Of the 343 CEOs in the compensation survey of S&P 500 companies done by the AP and Equilar, only 20 were women. Because they are a small group, changes in pay for only a few can easily skew the overall figures. READ MORE
The Importance Of Empowering Managers And Employees On Compensation
Compensation is a critical element of employee engagement, retention, and overall satisfaction. Empowering managers and employees with the right knowledge, visibility, and tools to understand, and have meaningful conversations about, compensation is crucial. READ MORE
How HR can make the most of working with a compensation consultant
Among the many tasks CHROs often face, helping the company’s board of directors shine before shareholders can be one challenging area, especially as it relates to your investors’ “say on pay” vote for executive compensation packages. Because, ultimately, if shareholders don’t approve the compensation strategy, it can give the board, and HR, a black eye.
Take Netflix, for example. Its board of directors encountered an embarrassing situation as shareholders withheld their support during the “say on pay” vote at the company’s annual shareholders meeting last week. Fortunately for Netflix and other public companies, such a vote is advisory only and not binding. READ MORE
Netflix shareholders reject multi-million dollar compensation package for executives
Netflix (NFLX) shareholders rejected a multi-million dollar executive compensation package on Thursday that includes the pay of co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. The company spent an estimated $166 million on its executive pay package last year.
The non-binding vote comes against the backdrop of the Hollywood writers' strike as members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) encouraged shareholders to vote against the package earlier this week. READ MORE
How to Conduct a Pay Equity Analysis
As more organizations embrace the hybrid workplace, the need for fair pay policies becomes increasingly important. Ensuring that employees receive equal pay for equal work not only fosters a healthy working environment but also promotes diversity, inclusion, and employee satisfaction. As such, conducting a pay equity analysis is a crucial step in identifying and rectifying any pay discrepancies. READ MORE