讓CEO天價(jià)薪酬回到地面
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates goals with a leap and a pose — arms extended downwards, chest thrust forward — that enrage the footballer’s critics. Suggest, however, that his self-regard or pay are unmerited and you are likely to be laughed off the terraces — especially after last week’s hat-trick for Real Madrid that won the team a place in the Champions League semi-finals.
C羅(Cristiano Ronaldo)進(jìn)球后用跳躍和一個(gè)姿勢(shì)——雙臂下伸、胸部前挺——來慶祝，這激怒了這位足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員的批評(píng)者。然而，假如你提出他的自尊或薪酬是不應(yīng)得的，那么你可能被人嘲笑——尤其是在他最近大顯身手、把皇馬隊(duì)(Real Madrid)推入歐冠聯(lián)賽(Champions League)的半決賽之后。
Chief executives’ assertions of their skills is even more vexing. As last week’s shareholder revolt against Bob Dudley’s 20 per cent pay rise at BP showed, tolerance for their posing is paper-thin. Investors’ impatience may erupt again at Anglo American’s meeting this week and at other FTSE 100 groups later this spring. CEOs may be paid as much as, or more than, Ronaldo, but, with vanishingly few exceptions, they are not in his league.
首席執(zhí)行官們對(duì)自己技能的斷言，甚至更令人迷惑。正如上周股東反對(duì)英國(guó)石油(BP)掌門人戴德立(Bob Dudley)加薪20%所展示的，眼下人們對(duì)CEO們擺姿態(tài)的容忍程度非常低。在本周的英美資源(Anglo American)會(huì)議和這個(gè)春季更晚時(shí)候的其他富時(shí)100指數(shù)(FTSE 100)成分股公司會(huì)議上，投資者的不滿情緒或許會(huì)再度爆發(fā)。CEO們的薪酬或許等于或高于C羅，但幾乎無例外的是，他們?cè)诩寄苌蠠o法與他相提并論。
Excessive pay is the biggest obstacle to restoration of trust in business. This was true in 2010, when Sir Richard Lambert, then head of the CBI business association, warned it was so out of line that CEOs “risked being treated as aliens”. It is even truer now, when they have long since left our galaxy and are heading at nanocraft-speed towards the next.
薪酬過高是企業(yè)重新贏得信任的最大障礙。這種情況在2010年是屬實(shí)的。當(dāng)時(shí)，英國(guó)工業(yè)聯(lián)合會(huì)(CBI)時(shí)任總干事理查德•蘭伯特爵士(Sir Richard Lambert)警告稱，薪酬過高的程度如此嚴(yán)重，以至于CEO“可能被看作外星人”。如今這種情況甚至更加屬實(shí)：CEO們?cè)缫央x開我們的星系，正以“納米飛船”(nanocraft)的速度飛往下一個(gè)星系。
No single solution will bring them back to earth. Here are four that, in combination, just might:
沒有什么單一辦法能把他們拉回地球。以下四個(gè)辦法加在一起，或許會(huì)有效果：
1) Reduce complexity. Chief executives seem just as baffled by the mechanics of complicated pay deals as outsiders are. Worse, the ambiguity of plans dulls their incentive effect. A recent report by the Institute of Business Ethics made this point using the example of BHP Billiton — the mining company reports two figures for its chief executive’s pay, one based on UK standards, the other on international accounting rules. Remuneration committees, the institute says, “often do not really know the value of what they are trying to hand over, not because they are lazy or don’t care, but because it is impossible to work out”.
1) 降低復(fù)雜性。CEO們似乎像外人一樣對(duì)復(fù)雜薪酬安排的機(jī)制感到困惑。更糟糕的是，薪酬方案的模棱兩可，削弱了其激勵(lì)效果。商業(yè)道德研究所(Institute of Business Ethics)不久前的`一份報(bào)告以必和必拓(BHP Billiton)為例指出了這一點(diǎn)。這家礦業(yè)公司對(duì)于CEO的薪酬報(bào)告了兩個(gè)數(shù)字，一個(gè)是基于英國(guó)規(guī)定，另一個(gè)是基于國(guó)際會(huì)計(jì)準(zhǔn)則。該所稱，薪酬委員會(huì)“往往并不知道他們要提供的薪酬方案的真實(shí)價(jià)值，這不是因?yàn)樗麄儜卸杌蛘卟辉诤�，而是因�(yàn)樗愠鲆粋�(gè)數(shù)字是不可能的”。
2) Make transparency work in favour of restraint. Companies should always benchmark pay and targets against peers. But this can trigger the Lake Wobegon effect, where, as in Garrison Keillor’s fictional town, everyone wants to be paid above average.
2) 讓透明度支持克制。公司應(yīng)當(dāng)始終將薪酬與基準(zhǔn)對(duì)比，并參考同行水平。但這可能引發(fā)沃比根湖(Lake Wobegon)效應(yīng)——因?yàn)樵谏w瑞森•凱勒(Garrison Keillor)的虛構(gòu)小鎮(zhèn)里，每個(gè)人都希望拿到高于平均值的薪酬。
Publishing pay ratios — as US companies will have to from next January — may help offset the impact, according to a study in the latest Journal of Management Accounting Research. Participants considered CEO pay less fair when told its ratio to employee earnings was many times higher than for the sector. The same perception made them less likely to invest in that company.
最新一期《管理會(huì)計(jì)研究雜志》(Journal of Management Accounting Research)的一項(xiàng)研究表明，公布薪酬比率——從明年1月起，美國(guó)公司將必須這么做——或許有助于抵消這一影響。當(dāng)被告知，CEO薪酬與員工收入之比高于行業(yè)水平許多倍時(shí)，受訪者傾向于認(rèn)為CEO薪酬不太公平。這一印象也導(dǎo)致他們更不可能投資相關(guān)公司。
3) Link CEO pay more closely to actual performance, good or bad. Alex Edmans of London Business School says directors should think less about levels of pay and more about how sensitive it is to what actually happens to the company. He cites one study that shows investing in companies where chief executives own lots of stock, and shorting those where they do not, earns between 4 and 10 per cent a year.
3) 使CEO薪酬與實(shí)際業(yè)績(jī)更緊密地掛鉤，無論業(yè)績(jī)是好是壞。倫敦商學(xué)院(London Business School)的亞歷克斯•埃德蒙斯(Alex Edmans)表示，董事們應(yīng)當(dāng)更少地思考CEO薪酬水平，而要更多思考CEO薪酬對(duì)公司實(shí)際表現(xiàn)的敏感程度。他援引的一項(xiàng)研究顯示，買入那些CEO持有大量公司股票的公司、做空CEO并未大量持股的公司，每年可斬獲4%至10%的額外回報(bào)。
4) Reinforce the remuneration committee. As chair of the Barclays committee, Dame Alison Carnwath opposed a 2011 bonus for chief executive Bob Diamond. She was overruled and had to defend it at the bank’s annual meeting. Investors are now heaping pressure on Dame Ann Dowling, who heads the committee at BP. Her discomfort at the 59 per cent vote against Mr Dudley’s pay rise was plain. Compensation committees need to stand firm against chief executives and chairs. Where an extreme pay plan is out of tune with what the company achieved, directors need to use their discretion to cancel bonuses not yet paid, or claw back those already issued.
4) 強(qiáng)化薪酬委員會(huì)。作為巴克萊(Barclays)薪酬委員會(huì)的主席艾莉森•卡恩沃思夫人(Dame Alison Carnwath)反對(duì)2011年的CEO鮑勃•戴蒙德(Bob Diamond)獎(jiǎng)金方案。她的意見被否決了，而且不得不在該行的年會(huì)上為這筆獎(jiǎng)金辯護(hù)。如今，投資者正在對(duì)BP薪酬委員會(huì)主席安•道林夫人(Dame Ann Dowling)加大施壓力度。她顯然對(duì)59%股東投票反對(duì)給戴德立加薪感到不安。薪酬委員會(huì)需要在首席執(zhí)行官和董事長(zhǎng)面前堅(jiān)持立場(chǎng)。當(dāng)某一極端的薪酬方案與公司業(yè)績(jī)相悖時(shí)，董事們需要利用他們的自由裁量權(quán)撤銷尚未支付的獎(jiǎng)金，或者收回已發(fā)放獎(jiǎng)金。
The BP revolt overshadowed the story earlier this month of Richard Pennycook, who has led Co-operative Group’s turnround and insisted on taking a 60 per cent cut in his base pay. It “reflects the type of organisation we are”, Allan Leighton, the mutual’s chairman, said. More companies should think what sort of values are reflected in their pay policies — and what impact those policies have on their fragile public licence to operate.
英國(guó)石油CEO加薪方案遭反對(duì)，令本月早些時(shí)候理查德•彭尼庫克(Richard Pennycook)的故事失色不少。彭尼庫克領(lǐng)導(dǎo)英國(guó)合作集團(tuán)(The Co-operative Group)扭虧為盈，卻堅(jiān)持要求公司削減自己基本工資60%。這家互助機(jī)構(gòu)的董事長(zhǎng)阿蘭•雷頓(Allan Leighton)表示，這“反映出我們是一家什么樣的機(jī)構(gòu)”。大多數(shù)公司應(yīng)當(dāng)思考一下，它們的薪酬政策反映了何種價(jià)值觀——這些政策對(duì)公司賴以經(jīng)營(yíng)的脆弱公共執(zhí)照產(chǎn)生了何種影響。
One last point. Do not try these remedies out on Ronaldo, unless you want to lose him to a rival. The implicit threat that a sought-after executive may leave often cows boards into agreeing extravagant pay deals. It should not. Directors overstate such risks by roughly the same amount that they overrate the talents of limelight-hogging chief executives.
最后一點(diǎn)。不要在C羅身上嘗試這些措施，除非你想把他推到對(duì)手球隊(duì)去。搶手的高管或許會(huì)離開，這種隱含的威脅經(jīng)常嚇得董事會(huì)同意高得離譜的薪酬安排。不應(yīng)該是這樣。董事們高估了喜歡出風(fēng)頭的CEO的才能，也以差不多相同的程度高估了CEO跳槽的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
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