CEO Pay Records a Major Increase in 2021: Report finds bonus payouts bolstering CEO financial performance.

• Author: Hayes, Bill
• Position: BOARDBOOK: Top Articles on www.DirectorsAndBoards.com

According to early proxy filers, 2021 was a bounce-back year for CEOs, with total pay recording an uptick of 19% and bonus payouts up nearly 75% from 2020.

Such were the findings of a recent Compensation Advisory Partners report, Early Filers: Performance Bounced Back, CEO Pay Up. The report, which reviews CEO pay levels among 50 companies with fiscal years ending between August and October 2021, also finds 90% of companies with a payout at or above targeted numbers and 50% of surveyed companies including ESG as a metric in CEO incentive plan design. Lauren Peek, principal at Compensation Advisory Partners and one of the authors of the report (along with fellow principal Joanna Czyzewski), says the significant increase in pay year over year came as a bit of a surprise.

Our initial assumption prior to the research is that pay was going to be up from the prior...