Decrease in CEO pay variation blamed on ‘reciprocal benchmarking’
Chief executive pay deals in the US have begun to cluster around the same levels regardless of the size or profitability of the firms involved.
Image: MJgraphics/Shutterstock
Attention around executive remuneration is usually focused on rocketing pay deals. Now researchers have unearthed a new phenomenon in the US: a dramatic fall in variation.
Academics from the Netherlands and Spain looked at 5,000 US companies over the past decade finding that chief executive pay deals have begun to cluster around the same levels regardless of the size or profitability of the firms involved.
The news comes as executive pay deals continue to be a bone of contention between boards and investors. Some executives took pay cuts during the pandemic while others did not. Recent research has revealed investors now want to see pay
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