High Pay Day 2024

    Hat tip High Pay Centre and brilliant cartoon which I cannot remember source. 

"We have estimated that FTSE 100 CEOs’ earnings for 2024 will surpass the median UK worker’s full time annual salary today, just before 1pm on Thursday 4 January. FTSE 100 bosses’ will have to work one hour fewer to overtake UK median worker than they did in 2023 Top city lawyers will have to wait until the beginning of next week to surpass the median worker’s annual pay, while leading bankers will have to wait until 17th January Calculations based on most recent available figures for CEOs and other top professions, plus Government data on UK workers’ pay According to our calculations, median FTSE 100 CEO’s earnings for 2024 will surpass the median annual salary for a full-time worker in the UK by around 1pm on Thursday 4 January. The calculations are based on our analysis of the most recent CEO pay disclosures published in companies’ annual reports, combined with government statistics showing pay levels across the UK economy. As with last year, the executive pay data suggests that CEOs will have to wait until the third working day of 2024 to surpass the annual pay of the median worker. Median FTSE 100 CEO pay (excluding pension) currently stands at £3.81 million, 109 times the median full time worker’s pay of £34,963. This represents an 9.5% increase on median CEO pay levels as of March 2023, while the median worker’s pay has increased by 6%. The figures come against a backdrop of calls from leading figures in the city and big business for UK CEOs to be paid more. In December 2023 Legal and General Investment Management adjusted their executive pay guidelines to permit firms they invest in to offer more generous incentive payments, while earlier in the year the London Stock Exchange Chief Executive argued that low CEO pay levels create a risk to the UK economy. How other top earners compare We have used other publicly available data to estimate how long it would take other top earners to surpass the median UK worker’s full time earnings. Other FTSE 350 executives (comprised of FTSE 100 executives other than the CEO, plus CEOs and other executives of FTSE 250 companies), median pay £1.32m, will need to work until 10th January for their pay to overtake the annual pay of the median UK worker A partner at a ‘magic circle’ law firm, average pay £1.92m, would need to work until 8th January A partner at a ‘Big Four’ Accountancy firm, average pay £871k, would need to work until 16th January A top banker (so-called ‘material risk taker’) at one of the five FTSE 100 listed banks, average pay £807k, would need to work until 16th January Everyone in the top 1% of full time UK earners, making at least £145k, will have overtaken the annual pay of the median full time worker by 29th March The research has been covered widely in the media including by the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Mirror."

CEO pay survey 2023: FTSE 100 CEOs get half a million pound pay rise

 

While apologists of high pay for these bosses will make all the excuses under the sun, my question is what are the company actual workers being paid this year for enabling them to have all this huge amounts of money? I think I know the answer..

"Our new report shows that the FTSE 100 CEO pay increased from £3.38m in 2021 to £3.91m in 2022. Median CEO pay is now 118 times that of the median UK full-time worker, compared to 108 times in 2021 and 79 times in 2020.

This is the highest level of median pay since 2017, and is an increase of 16% on the median FTSE 100 CEO pay in 2021, which stood at £3.38 million. 

Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca was the highest paid CEO, making £16.85m, ahead of Charles Woodburn of BAE Systems who made £10.69 million. 

The ten FTSE 100 companies with the highest CEO pay were as follows:

Company	CEO	Pay (£m)
AstraZeneca	Pascal Soriot	15.32
BAE Systems	Charles Woodburn	10.69
CRH plc	Albert Manifold	10.38
BP	Bernard Looney	10.03
Experian	Brian Cassin	9.94
Shell plc	Ben van Beurden	9.70
British American Tobacco	Jack Bowles	9.62
Anglo American plc	Mark Cutifani/ Ducan Wanblad	9.54
Endeavour Mining	Sebastien de Montessus	8.99
GSK plc	Emma Walmsley	8.45

 

The analysis also that:

• FTSE 350 firms spent over a billion on executive pay, with £1.33bn awarded to 570 executives
• 96% of FTSE 100 companies paid their CEO an annual bonus, up from 87% in 2021. 74% of FTSE 100 companies paid their CEO an LTI, compared to 71% in 2021.
• The average bonus size fell slightly from £1.43 million to £1.41 million. The average long term incentive plan (LTI) payment increased from £1.50 million to £1.79 million.
• The median FTSE 100 CEO pay is 118 times the median earnings of a UK full-time worker in 2022 (£33,000), compared to 108:1 in 2021.
• The median FTSE 250 CEO was paid £1.77 million in 2022, compared to £1.72 million in 2021.

At a time when so many households are struggling with living costs, it is surely not desirable or sensible for companies including some of Britain’s biggest employers to prioritise a half a million pound pay rise for executives who are already multi millionaires.

How major employers distribute the wealth that their workforce creates has a big impact on people’s living standards.

The High Pay Centre is calling for reforms to regulations affecting the corporate pay-setting process including:

• Requirements for companies to include a minimum of two elected workforce representatives on the remuneration committees that set pay.
• Guaranteed trade union access to workplaces to tell workers about the benefits of union membership and collective bargaining.
• Requirements for companies to provide more detailed disclosure of pay for top earners beyond the executives, and low earners including indirectly employed workers, enabling more informed pay negotiations at individual companies and a clearer debate about pay inequality more generally.
• New bodies should be established for unions and employers to negotiate across sectors, beginning with hospitality and social care.
• Phasing out long-term incentive payments and replacing them with mechanisms like profit shares, common to all staff ensuring that everyone who contributes towards a company’s success benefits from it".

All about "Ratchet, Ratchet & Bingo’" HIgh Pay Event on Remuneration Consultancy

This looks really interesting but I have a clash on Wednesday

"Event: Is Remuneration Consultancy Really Independent?

Wednesday 24th June
12:30 – 14:00
High Pay Centre, 32-36 Loman Street, London SE1 0EH

Remuneration consultants are at the heart of the executive pay setting process. According to the Financial Times, “One of the root causes of the executive compensation madness is the cottage industry of ‘comp consultants’, also described by Warren Buffet as ‘Ratchet, Ratchet & Bingo’”.

Our new report examines their commercial relationships to the companies they advise and the potential for conflicts of interest in the pay setting process. It looks at the additional services provided by remuneration companies in this context.

Report author Paul Marsland will present on his findings and will be joined by additional panellists to answer questions and discuss the report.

Lunch will be served. This event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are essential. Please email natalia.raha@highpaycentre.org to reserve your place".

Fat Cat Tuesday

Today 6 January is "Fat Cat Tuesday" By only the 2nd working day of the first month of the year, the average CEO of a FTSE 100 company will have received more pay that the average UK worker will earn in the entire year.

Check out TUC press release

"TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s a stark reminder that while the average worker is £50 a week worse off than in 2010, boardroom pay gets bigger and bigger every year.

“We urgently need a change of course to put wage growth for all workers at the heart of Britain’s economic plan – if not then people’s living standards will not recover and the economy will remain in the danger zone.”

also hat tip High pay centre