While millions of workers see their wages frozen in place, executive paychecks are ballooning out of control. According to a new survey, big company bosses earn an average of 386 times more than workers on the living wage.
The Equality Trust survey looked at FTSE 100 companies, shining a light on the unjustifiable pay gap between executives and the workers that make their companies possible. “Too often, bosses are treated as untouchable talent to be retained at all costs, while millions of workers are seen merely as costs to be reduced,” the charity stated.
Even some corporate shareholders are sceptical about the towering paychecks executives are bringing home. By making corporate pay gaps public, we can empower concerned shareholders to help reel in excessive executive pay and reward the workers that make these companies tick.
Call on Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to enact mandatory pay ratio reporting.
The survey revealed advertising firm WPP is the worst offender. WPP’s chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell rakes in an incredible 5,154 times more than an employee on the living wage.
Some WPP shareholders have taken note of Sorrell’s enormous paycheck. At its annual meeting, one third of investors refused to back Sorrell’s pay package. Making corporate pay gaps public could help generate the public pressure necessary to convince more shareholders to stand up to pay packages that “cut costs” by slashing worker pay and benefits in order to afford executives’ massive salaries.
There’s more to a company’s success than its CEO. It’s time companies start rewarding employees for their hard work, instead of funneling all its resources to the top. Armed with Equality Trust’s revealing survey, it’s high time we stand up for workers’ value and demand corporate pay transparency.
Call for corporate pay transparency and ask the UK government to enact mandatory pay ratio reporting.
More information
BBC. 22 March 2017.