Bosses reward rises 20 times faster than pay for average employee, says TUC
Total pay for FTSE 100 directors has risen by 14 per cent as a result of a share price climb, boosting the payouts on long-term rewards, research has revealed.
Incomes Data Services (IDS) found that the average pay for bosses in the FTSE 100 has reached £3.3 million despite modest basic pay rises averaging 4 per cent and a fall in annual bonuses of 8.8 per cent (£606,900 to £553,200) from last year. The findings showed that share-based long-term incentive plans were responsible for the hike in reward as they rose 58 per cent (from £764,462 to £1,208,940).
Steve Tatton, editor of IDS's directors' pay report, explained: “These divergent pay trends highlight the complex make-up of boardroom remuneration, illustrating that while one part of a director’s pay package may go down another part may go up.
"With nearly two-thirds of FTSE directors benefiting from an LTIP [long-term incentive plan] award in the latest year, the higher share-based payouts clearly made up for any ground lost in lower annual bonuses.”
However, pay for the majority of employees remains subdued, according to official figures published last week.
Pay data published by the Office for National statistics revealed that private sector pay, total and regular, rose by 1.1 per cent, while total reward in the public sector dropped by 0.4 per cent and regular pay fell by 0.1 per cent.
The TUC said the IDS survey highlighted the disparity between average employee wages and rewards for those at the top of British firms, with directors’ pay rising 20 times faster than that of the average worker.
Frances O'Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “It's one thing replacing bonuses with long-term incentive plans, but FTSE 100 companies are simply exploiting this change to make their fat cats even fatter."


What was I saying about greed