Every annual report season, the sums paid to FTSE 100 bosses hit the headlines, with campaigners branding them “unjust” and “obscene”. Is such criticism justified?
While the rewards might seem more than adequate to most people – an average of £4.3m in annual salary including bonuses and benefits – boards would actually like to pay their CEOs much more. That’s the view of Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, a thinktank that criticises excessive executive compensation packages.
UK-listed businesses operate under the world’s strictest remuneration standards, according to Deloitte. A company must disclose a breakdown of directors’ pay and why it was awarded, as well as the ratio between the CEO’s pay and that of its average employee.