TheCorporateCounsel.net

Since a number of our members have asked if we have a sample of “Pay Ratio FAQs” drafted for employees, we have just posted this “Sample: Pay Ratio FAQs for Leaders (To Answer Employee Questions)” in a Word document on CompensationStandards.com.

We have found that most companies are arming their managers with FAQs rather than delivering a set of FAQs to employees directly. Obviously, you’ll need to modify our sample FAQs to best fit your circumstances…

By the way, this pay ratio article about Wal-Mart was trending #1 on my Facebook feed a few days ago. The pay ratio extremes so far: Kinder Morgan – 3.7; Mattel – 4987 (supplemental ratio excluding one time awards of $22 million lowers it to 1527)…

Pay Ratio: What the S&P Companies Have Disclosed So Far

Here’s something that I blogged last week on CompensationStandards.com: As reflected in this deck, Deloitte Consulting just completed a review of 293 “S&P 500” companies that have filed their proxies as of April 10th. Here are the highlights:

– Median pay ratio is 153:1
– Median employee’s total annual compensation $70,867
– 21% of companies disclose information about the median employee’s employment status, geographic location and/or role
– Pay ratio and median employee’s total annual compensation varied significantly across industries. As expected, consumer discretionary (i.e., “retail”) had the highest median ratio of 396x and lowest median employee compensation at $32k while utilities had the lowest median ratio of 96x and second highest median employee compensation at $122k)
– Larger companies (in terms of revenue) had higher median ratios than smaller companies; however, the median employee’s pay did not correlate with revenue size
– 51% of companies chose a date other than the fiscal year end as the measurement date
– CACM used to identify the median employee varied significantly, with total cash compensation used by 32%, base pay and wages 23%, W-2 wages 20% and total direct compensation at 18%
– Only 8% used statistical sampling
– Only one company adjusted pay for the cost-of-living (CEO lives in Switzerland)
– 16% of companies added health benefits to total annual compensation
– 81% of companies placed the pay ratio disclosure immediately following the termination tables, while only 4% included it in the CD&A

Also check out the latest from the many pay ratio compilations we have posted in our “Pay Ratio” Practice Area on CompensationStandards.com – including the latest Pearl Meyer stats.

Pay Ratio: Whether to Highlight It Online

Here’s something that I blogged yesterday on CompensationStandards.com: Since the SEC provided companies with some flexibility, there has been a debate as to where a pay ratio should be disclosed within a proxy statement – we cover this starting on page 72 of our “Pay Ratio” chapter in our Treatise. But where within the proxy pales in comparison to whether a company highlights its pay ratio on its online proxy or “Investor Relations” page.

That’s why I found what United Techologies did to be so notable – they broke out the disclosure of its pay ratio onto a separate page on its site. If you scroll down on the home page of the company’s interactive proxy, you’ll see a tab for “CEO Pay Ratio” in the 3rd row, two spots in from the left. Kudos…

– Broc Romanek