The say-on-pay approach is gaining traction, McCord says. "It's not binding, generally, but it does give people an opportunity to weigh in."
Meanwhile, a new study shows that top U.S. companies are relying more heavily on performance plans to tie executive pay to long-term company performance. For the first time, performance-based plans overtook stock options as the most popular form of long-term incentive compensation -- a major milestone in the history of CEO pay, according to results from The Wall Street Journal/Hay Group CEO Compensation Study, released in April.
Use of performance plans (which tie the level of a CEO's pay directly to how the company performs relative to predetermined metrics) grew 5% in 2007, while use of stock options and time-vested restricted stock declined 7% and 14%, respectively, consulting firm Hay Group reports.
"This significant shift has been a few years in the making, following accounting rule changes and corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom, and more recently, new SEC disclosure rules and activist institutional shareholders," said Irv Becker, head of the executive compensation practice at Hay Group, in a statement. "But 2007 marked a new era in the way CEOs are being paid."
Looking ahead, industry watchers expect companies to be more vigilant about how they measure performance and hold executives accountable.
"It's a continuum. It's still not where some of the more activist shareholders would like it to be, but we're moving in that direction," McCord says. "The momentum is clearly on the side of more disclosure, greater transparency and a more rigorous approach to executive compensation in general."
Network World is an InfoWorld affiliate.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Careers Resource Alerts
1 Recommendation
