Britain Looks to Address Inequality With Executive Pay Measures
The proposals include plans to force all publicly listed companies to publish their wage ratio, comparing their chief executive’s salary with
that of the average worker, as well as the creation of a register that “names and shames” firms that faced shareholder opposition over executive pay levels.
LONDON — Worried by a long-term rise in inequality, Britain announced on Tuesday a series of measures aimed at increasing transparency over executive compensation, hoping to ramp up pressure on companies
that offer lavish salaries for bosses but restrict pay for regular employees.
The average chief executive of a company listed on the FTSE 100, the country’s benchmark stock index, made 129 times
as much as a regular employee last year, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Dirk Jenter, an associate professor of finance at the London School of Economics who has surveyed executive compensation, said
he had doubts about whether the measures would make much difference and warned that some might even be counterproductive
In one case, investors in the energy company BP protested against the $19.6 million compensation package awarded to
the company’s chief executive, Robert W. Dudley, in 2016 — a majority voted against the deal in a nonbinding vote.
