News

Company boards with women in charge of executives’ salaries perform better

First Women Exclusives · September 1, 2016

Women have a knack for monitoring remuneration of board members. Image: Shutterstock

 

Female chairs of remuneration committees are likely to make board executives work harder for their pay than male chairs, a report from compensation consulting firm Pearl Meyer has suggested.

The study reviewed the performance of 149 of the UK’s biggest listed companies, citing that 52 (35 per cent) of them have a female to oversee their remuneration board. Compared with the 26 per cent represented on FTSE100 boards, it hints that women have a knack for this particular job.

Findings indicated that companies with a woman in this position fared better in terms of returns. It highlighted that the women were able to earn £822 for shareholders for every £1 paid to the chief executive, while their male counterparts earned £561 for every £1, suggesting females are perhaps better at getting get the best value out of chief executives.

In addition to demanding more from chief executives, female heads were found to pay them an average of £400,000 more in wages.

Pearl Meyer managing director and author of the study Simon Patterson said: “In broad terms, companies where there’s a woman in charge of setting pay are more productive. It’s difficult to draw specific conclusions – but you could surmise that women are less inclined to go along with the group and more inclined to think about what could go wrong.

“The ‘new normal’ is a powerful female chair of the remuneration committee tackling difficult issues of executive pay, highly motivated to understand what is going on, focused on solutions and typically bringing with them a holistic view on the question: ‘What are we paying for?’”.

The report stated that often, a remuneration chair will play the role of a facilitator or ‘inentiviser’, where their primary focus is to support management in the achievement of agreed business strategy and compensation is a means to that end.

 

You should also read:

- Women possess all the ingredients required to be charismatic leaders

 

- Women lead one in six universities of world’s top 200, according to Times Higher Education

 

- Confidence, collaboration and preparation – your secrets to success when negotiating a pay rise

 

Latest Articles

Sponsors

Become a sponsor

Join the conversation @RBFIRSTWOMEN

RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen .@imperialcollege joins @30percentclub, pledges to advance #genderequality https://t.co/ZlBp3vlndT @ImperialBiz https://t.co/3VYukfJ6DE 1 day ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen Loving #GBBO? Get a slice of this producer who turned her passion for baking into a business https://t.co/sAEURYo1er https://t.co/wI9db5pF8C 1 day ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen Company boards with women in charge of #execpay perform better https://t.co/XORSX2CInM @pearlmeyer https://t.co/MF5Pkl8gJV 2 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen RT @real_funds: #women in #tech https://t.co/3P8YvhQSCx 3 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen @real_funds Thanks for sharing! 3 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen #YoursTruly #TrueMatch foundation ad features man, salutes #diversity https://t.co/vMkkktLOoW @LOrealParisUK #makeup https://t.co/o6Vapqf6Ca 3 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen Report reveals shocking workplace #discrimination against pregnant women, new mothers https://t.co/emQXNtF0mZ https://t.co/wTIhYdVjI0 3 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen Don't miss the latest news and exclusives from the world of #FirstWomen – sign up for our newsletter https://t.co/QLMOX3htxS 3 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen If you know a fantastic #SME that deserves some recognition, nominate them for this year's #Growingbusinessawards https://t.co/ZbkvA22nIe 4 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen Digital should level the playing field, not exclude women from the game altogether https://t.co/ZKA7ZyvXLj #STEM https://t.co/lyMwRGZAND 4 days ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen Women should pause to recognise triumphs, not sweep them under the rug https://t.co/GhjpoAjGXu https://t.co/OIrINoQQcj 1 week ago
RB First Women RB First Women @RBFirstWomen These women continue to transcend the boundaries of female achievement https://t.co/YFSkyRx4R5 #WomensEqualityDay https://t.co/jELIyGmjhf 1 week ago