FTSE100 chief executives are paid 115 times more than their average employee, new research has found.
The latest report by the High Pay Centre thinktank shows that bosses will have outstripped their staff’s entire annual wages by 5.30pm today if they are paid on an hourly basis.
While senior pay was essentially flat last year, at £3.6m a year compared with £31,461 for a typical UK worker, the gulf between bosses and their staff has continued to increase in recent years.
The High Pay Centre estimates that back in the 1980s, the gap was some 20 times salary, rising to 50 times by 2000, and is now hovering nearer 120 times.
If a chief executive worked a “highly demanding” year of 12-hour days, 320 days a year, the thinktank says that a minimum wage worker would now need to work 212 years to catch up with their salary.
Speaking with the Guardian, GMB union acting general secretary Warren Kenny singled out shareholders as one group that should “wake up and take action” on workplace inequality and exploitation.
Back in April, the Investment Association called on companies to review their executive pay structures to ensure they are still appropriate in light of the coronavirus crisis.
IA director of stewardship and corporate governance Andrew Ninian says: “With coronavirus continuing to impact our economy and society, executive remuneration will continue to be an important focus for investors in 2021.
“Investors expect companies to treat their executive directors and workforce consistently when it comes to pay and not to isolate executives from the impact of Covid-19. Our members are calling on companies to ensure chief executive pay is proportionate and aligned with performance, so that it reflects the experiences of employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.”
The High Pay Centre research shows the biggest difference between a chief executive and their staff is to be found at online supermarket Ocado, where average employees received £22,5000 compared to the £58.7m packet for chief executive Tim Steiner last year.
