Median ‘policy pay’, the rate at which a company states it will pay non-executive directors, posted no movement year-on-year, research from management consultancy Hay Group shows.
The median actual pay for non-chair directors across Europe grew moderately from €71,500 (£60,160) in 2011 to €75,200 in 2012. The rate for non-executive chairs fell from €237,000 to €214,800 over the same period.
The non-executive directors in Europe report analyses ‘actual pay’, which is the total of fees paid throughout the year, taking into account committees sat on, meetings attended, and any form of variable pay involved.
More on director pay:
- CEO pay on AIM hits all-time high
- Fewer executives on FTSE boards, but pay rises fast
- Greed and the City
Hay Group’s report also reveals that Swiss chairs walked away with ‘by far the most money’ in 2012 with a median of €1,077,100. This compares with chairs in Austria who earned a median of €51,600.
Carl Sjostrom, director of executive reward for Europe at Hay Group, comments, ‘The public, shareholder and regulatory pressures dampening executive pay inflation in Europe are clearly also influencing remuneration practices for non-executive directors on the continent’s boards.’
As part of the research, Hay Group concludes that one factor which varies ‘significantly’ across Europe is the differential between director pay and the pay of the chair of the board.
The report is based on analysis of the latest annual reports from 390 companies listed on the major indices of 12 European countries.
