Thanks to bank bailouts, Occupy Wall Street and other news, there is a lot of attention on CEO pay right now, especially as it compares to the average wages of employees. Whether you agree or disagree with a CEO making high wages at Fortune 1000 companies, it’s hard to argue that CEOs and other C-suite employees at small organizations are being overpaid.
Continue reading "Small Company CEOs Work Hard and Earn Less" »
By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com
Executive pay planning can be an intimidating process, even for seasoned HR professionals. In the upcoming series of posts on the topic, we hope to enlighten you on the basics of executive pay, as well as get into the details on topics like restricted stock grants and deferred compensation. We’ll start with this up-close look at short-term incentives, or a bonus plan.
What are the ABCs of executive pay and why is it so different from what the rest of us get?
By Staff Writer
If your company is looking to bounce back from a drop in profits or handle a growth spurt, you may be in the market for fresh talent at your executive level. What’s the best way to approach salary negotiations during the executive hiring process?
Continue reading "How to Design an Executive Compensation Policy" »
The following is a transcript of the question and answer session that followed PayScale’s webinar, Executive Pay 101: What You Need to Know. The topics covered include qualification and generalized methods of compensating top level executives, vice president and above. Answers are provided by Sharon Koss, SPHR, CCP, president of Koss Management Consulting.
Continue reading "Executive Compensation – Free HR Questions and Answers" »
By Staff Writer
In the chaotic and frightening times we’ve all stumbled into, it sounds nice to get back at someone, something, an institution, anything, for what has happened to many people’s 401Ks, homes and jobs. Who can we point a finger at?
Of all the options, the one that has received a lot of media attention is executive compensation. Salary data abounds online, pointing out that executives' motivations are misdirected, resulting in an overpaid, profit-driven culture where the guy or gal in charge only looks out for number one. What do you think is a smart way to change the status quo?
In September of 2008, Merrill Lynch admitted that it couldn’t pay its bills anymore. But, just before it ended its final quarter of business, Q4 of 2008, Merrill Lynch gave out nearly $4 billion in executive compensation bonuses.
Come again? Say what?
Continue reading "Merrill Lynch Executive Compensation Bonuses" »
Over the years, this view of civilization has stuck with me: Civilization is defined as impulse control. If this is so, how does outlandish executive compensation fit into civilization?
The poster illustration for uncivilized behavior, it seems, could be the greed of outrageously excessive executive compensation packages. Richard Fuld at Lehman Brothers, for example, made $484 million in 8 years as he ultimately drove his company out of existence.
Continue reading "Executive Compensation Package Analysis" »
It’s official. The unethical use of bailout money that so many of us feared would come when the government wrote big checks to save our economy has arrived. In fact, according to a recent L.A. Times article, "Wall Street Finds Ways Around Executive Pay Caps," $20 million of the bailout money handed out last year by the Bush administration went to executive compensation bonuses. These, mind you, are top executives at companies that failed. Do you think they are inspired to do better work now that they were rewarded for running their businesses into the ground?
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