ERI, Author at ERI Economic Research Institute

Top 10 Highest-Paid CEOs in the United States in 2021

Posted on July 19, 2022 | by ERI

As the highest-ranking person in a company, Chief Executive Officers tend to be the highest-paid executives at any organization. Over the years, total compensation for CEOs has continued to trend up, especially in lucrative industries. Out of the top 10 highest-paid CEOs in the United States, 5 of them work in the technology sector.

Below is a list of the top 10 highest-paid CEOs for the most recent complete fiscal year: 2021. The list is ordered by the highest total pay and not the top executive salary. “Other” compensation is defined as total compensation minus salary and includes annual variable cash, long-term incentive awards, pension, and any other compensation awarded in 2021.

Company	Name	Title	Salary	Incentive	Long-Term	All Other
Taylor Devices Inc	Timothy Sopko	Director and Chief Executive Officer	$250,000	---	$1,743,814,254	$23,668
The Trade Desk Inc	Jeffrey Green	Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer	$965,000	$3,703,912	$828,384,776	$1,905,679
Robinhood Markets Inc	Vladimir Tenev	Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board	$244,125	---	$794,011,732	$794,011,732
KKR & Co Inc	Joseph Bae	Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer	$300,000	$24,700,000	$476,261,500	$58,374,648
Qualtrics International Inc	Zig Serafin	Chief Executive Officer and Director	$500,000	---	$540,000,000	$13,050
KKR & Co Inc	Scott Nuttall	Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer	$300,000	$24,700,000	$442,161,500	$55,980,932
Affirm Holdings Inc	Max Levchin	Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board	$10,000	---	$451,052,591	$145,135
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp III	Vivek Garipalli	Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer	---	---	$389,569,439	---
Expedia Group Inc	Peter Kern	Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer	$849,999	---	$294,567,250	$830,500
Coty Inc	Sue Nabi	Chief Executive Officer and Director	$3,549,000	---	$280,200,000	$42,455

Looking for more information?

Detailed executive compensation data can be found in ERI’s Executive Compensation Assessor.

ERI Economic Research Institute compiles the most robust salary, cost-of-living, and executive compensation survey data available, with current market data for more than 1,000 industry sectors. Find out how executive compensation has changed for the highest-paid executives and get updated executive compensation data for C-suite executives at ERI.

ERI’s Assessor Series® – Solutions for every compensation decision.

Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletic Heads at Nonprofits 2022

Posted on May 17, 2022 | by ERI

ERI recently published a whitepaper analyzing why nonprofits in the education industry pay higher, on average, than other nonprofit industries. The results showed that athletic heads are one of the highest-paid positions at education-based nonprofits. But just how much do the highest-paid athletic heads make? To answer that question, below is a list of the top 10 highest-paid athletic heads at nonprofits for the most-recent available form year (2019). ERI also has additional information on the Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletic Heads for previous years to compare and see how much nonprofit pay for athletic heads has changed.

Company	Name	Title	Salary	Other Pay
University of Miami	Manuel Diaz	Head Football Coach	$9,571,978	$55,390
Stanford University	David Shaw	Director of Football	$8,707,965	$216,718
University of Georgia	Kirby P. Smart	Head Football Coach	$6,475,000	$49,673
Duke University	Michael W. Krzyzewski	Basketball Coach	$6,331,096	$1,022,386
Villanova University	Jerold T. Wright	Men’s Basketball Coach	$6,150,206	$42,046
Texas Christian University	Gary A. Patterson	Head Football Coach	$5,962,646	$140,897
Northwestern University	Patrick W. Fitzgerald II	Head Football Coach	$5,687,201	$60,978
University of Pittsburgh	Patrick R. Narduzzi	Head Football Coach	$4,763,543	$53,263
University of Southern California	Charles Helton	Head Football Coach	$4,678,627	$135,205
Texas Christian University	James P. Dixon	Men's Basketball Coach	$4,264,883	$83,092

It is worth noting that, although some top athletic program heads command multimillion-dollar salaries, the average pay for top athletic positions in 2019 was significantly lower, at $377,689. For a more in-depth analysis on nonprofit pay, see ERI’s recent whitepaper “How Much Do Education Nonprofits Pay?”

Looking for more information?

Detailed nonprofit executive compensation data, including source documents and historic data, can be found in ERI’s Nonprofit Comparables Assessor.

ERI Economic Research Institute compiles the most robust salary, cost-of-living, and executive compensation survey data available, with current market data for more than 1,000 industry sectors.

What Are the Different Types of Compensable Factors?

Posted on May 12, 2022 | by ERI

Creating an effective compensation strategy is vital for an organization’s ability to attract, motivate, and retain talent critical for business success. The strategy must deliver salary structures that result in external competitiveness and internal equity, while supporting business objectives. Job analysis is a key component in this endeavor; it is the process of gathering relevant information about a job, the essential functions, as well as the factors that influence successful performance, and its corresponding value based on the organization’s specific criteria. This criteria, compensable factors, is then used in establishing the hierarchy of jobs, as well as setting and reviewing salaries and structures, assessing competitive external market position, and conducting pay equity audits.

Compensable factors are simply job components that are used as a basis for assessing job value, usually based on the values and objectives of the organization. Typically, compensable factors include such job components as skill and relevant experience needed in order to perform a job, responsibility, direct reports, supervision received and exercised, working conditions, and impact of decisions. These factors are used to establish and compare job worth, resulting in a job hierarchy, which then provides the basis for setting a wage structure and compensation strategy. To facilitate comparison, compensable factors should be a common element in all jobs, definable and measurable, and vary across the organization.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 defines the four most basic compensable factors as effort, skill, responsibility, and working conditions. This provides the basis for pay differentiation and evaluation of pay inequities.

Skill – This is the skill required for the job, not skills that the individual employee may have. Skill is measured by factors such as the experience, ability, education, and training required to perform the job.

Effort – This is defined as the amount of physical or mental exertion (degree and amount of concentration or the level and frequency of physical effort, as defined by the ADA) needed to perform a job.

Responsibility – This is defined as the number of direct reports, fiscal accountability, and the list of responsibilities of the position itself; the depth and importance of knowledge necessary to perform the work; or the required specialized or technical expertise.

Working Conditions – These are the overall environmental factors, such as location and hazards, as well as physical surroundings like temperature, fumes, and ventilation. What percentage of the time and how often is the employee exposed to these conditions?

Additional compensable factors may include the following:

Education – What is the minimum education required, not preferred, to do the job successfully in terms of formal schooling, training, certification, or knowledge of a specialized field? The minimum refers to the most basic level required to successfully perform the job duties.

Complexity – Does the job require independent judgment or initiative to make decisions? What is the impact of the decisions made in this role, consequence of error, and financial impact to the organization?

Supervision received – Does the role require hands-on supervision (i.e., review the work or outline specific methods or procedures)? This includes accountability, independence, and freedom to act or direct one’s own work.

Supervision exercised – What is the number of positions reporting, directly and indirectly? What is the level of authority for controlling policy decisions, costs, or work methods? What are the scope and impact across the organization?

Contacts – What internal and external contacts or interactions are required? With whom and at what level and frequency are these contacts needed?

Confidential data – To what extent is the incumbent responsible for confidential information? What would be the consequences of unwarranted disclosure? To what extent are integrity and discretion important?

Does the job entail required decision making and/or analytical skill?

The compensable factors are used for weighting and comparison and will support in managing pay equity and compression issues. For example, a new hire has ten years of relevant experience as an IT Programmer. Current incumbents in the position have fewer than three years of experience. With all other factors the same (for illustration purposes), one would expect to pay a higher salary to the incumbent with more experience. However, if the position requires a special skill set or is a “hot job” in the current market, it may be justification for paying more even with fewer years of experience in comparison.

Compensable factors are yet another tool in the HR arsenal and must be used judiciously and wisely, while being periodically reviewed. Any compensable factors used to differentiate pay must be based on bona fide occupational requirements and not organizational preferences. There must be a legitimate reason that is connected to the ability to do the job. An organization may prefer to hire only college graduates, but, if the minimum education required to do the job successfully is a high school diploma, then the company cannot legally differentiate based on that preference.

As with any tool, HR must work diligently to ensure fairness, equity, and consistency throughout the organization. Visit ERI for more information on how to benchmark pay and to find additional information on salary assessment.

What Are the Different Types of Compensation?

Posted on April 26, 2022 | by ERI

Structuring an effective compensation package to attract and retain employees is an important function of organizational effectiveness. Compensation may achieve several purposes assisting in recruitment, job performance, and job satisfaction. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines compensation as, “money that an employee receives for doing their job.” It is the process of providing adequate, fair, and equitable remuneration to the employee. However, compensation encompasses more than just the monetary aspect. Compensation refers to a wide range of both monetary and non-monetary rewards given to employees as part of the employment relationship. Compensation is paid in many forms. The company’s goals are achieved while the employee earns money. While there are many factors that influence an individual’s choice to work for an organization, compensation plays a major role in that decision. Depending on their personal circumstances and stage of life, some employees may value monetary or direct compensation less than more robust, non-monetary benefits or indirect compensation, such as health, dental, vision, and life insurance. Compensation is an important component of effectively managing the labor force.

Some types of compensation given to employees include the following:

Monetary or Direct Compensation:

Base Pay
Base pay is agreed-upon pay that the employee receives for performing the job. It is most often the largest component of the compensation package. It can be paid as an hourly wage, based on hours worked (for non-exempt employees), or it can be paid as a specific, regular salary amount paid periodically (e.g., monthly, biweekly, etc.). Base pay can also be a percentage of sales, etc. Holidays and vacation or paid time off are included in base pay/salary. Base pay also encompasses ancillary pay (e.g., shift differentials, weekend pay, or on-call pay).

Variable Pay
Well-designed variable pay plans incentivize employees to work harder to achieve goals and earn additional pay beyond their regular base pay. Variable pay is characteristically based upon performance and/or achievement of goals – individual, organizational, or some combination of the two – and may be guaranteed based on pre-selected criteria or may be discretionary. This type of compensation can vary based on levels within the organization, such as senior executives, middle management, or front-line workers, all with different levels of compensation available to recognize and reward employee contributions above and beyond job duties. For example, senior executives may enjoy a larger percentage of variable pay that is tied to achievement of strategic organizational goals since the company’s performance is closely tied with their performance. Middle management’s objectives may be tied to an overall department level of performance, while front-line workers may receive a flat amount tied to a group goal or individual goals.

Incentive Pay – This is performance-based compensation that rewards attainment of pre-defined goals or objectives.
- Short-term Incentive Pay – This is typically based on annual objectives.
- Long-term Incentive Pay – This is typically based on a performance period of two or more years and includes cash and equity.
Commissions – Salespeople may earn a percentage of sales in addition to their base salary.
Bonuses – This includes performance bonuses, annual bonuses, Christmas bonuses, spot bonuses, referral bonuses, and retention bonuses. Bonuses may be discretionary or non-discretionary.
Profit sharing – This reward is based on how well the organization does.
Recognition programs – These programs may be non-monetary or constitute a small monetary amount (such as gift cards).
403B, 457B – These refer to deferred compensation that an employer pays or supplemental contributions made by the employee (such as employer-matching contributions).
Defined benefit contributions – These contributions may be made to retirement/pension plans.

Non-Monetary or Indirect Compensation:

Compensation encompasses not only base pay/salary, but also the employer-paid costs of employee benefits, such as medical, dental, vision, 401K matching contributions, life insurance policies, holidays, paid time off, and more. With the cost of healthcare skyrocketing, the perquisite of an employer-supplemented group health plan makes the premium costs more manageable to individuals and families.

Health insurance
Vision insurance
Dental insurance
Basic life and disability insurance – long and short-term disability, long-term care
Accidental death & dismemberment
Pet insurance
Home and auto insurance
Legal benefits
Tuition reimbursement
Gym memberships
Discounted tickets to amusement parks or attractions
Auto allowance
Cell phone allowance
Professional association membership fees
Stock, equity compensation
Professional development
Flexible spending accounts
Retirement benefits, such as a 401K matching plan

Companies that are well versed in compensation – both monetary and non-monetary – are able to articulate the total compensation package that promotes the organization. Base pay may not always be aggressively competitive on its own. However, assessing the total compensation provided, both monetary and non-monetary, allows for consideration of offers on a level playing field. For more information on calculating compensation and benchmarking salary and pay, visit ERI.

How to Conduct Stay Interviews and Improve Employee Retention

Posted on April 21, 2022 | by ERI

Employees leave companies for various reasons – salary, working conditions, promotion, relocation, remote work, career changes, burnout, and more. Turnover is a routine and expected part of doing business. However, what should companies do when turnover is high or their best talent is walking out the door? Companies often use exit interviews as part of the offboarding process, gleaning insights about what should be improved, what should be changed, and what should continue. This guidance informs retention and engagement strategies to reduce turnover, which can be quite costly, as well as increase productivity and engagement and address issues that may arise.

“…Skilled employees are the assets that drive organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them—why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview—whether it be a face-to-face conversation, a questionnaire, a survey, or a combination—can catalyze leaders’ listening skills, reveal what does or doesn’t work inside the organization, highlight hidden challenges and opportunities, and generate essential competitive intelligence. It can promote engagement and enhance retention by signaling to employees that their views matter. And it can turn departing employees into corporate ambassadors for years to come.” (Harvard Business Review)

While exit interviews are a great tool, they occur at the point when an employee has decided to find another opportunity elsewhere and, in most cases, it is too late to figure out why the employee is leaving and do something about it. Stay interviews, on the other hand, can help the organization learn what matters most to their employees and positively impact recruitment, retention, and engagement. Stay interviews are candid conversations with current employees, with the goal of discovering their reasons for working for the company, what is important to them, what they like about their roles, and what they would like to change. Stay interviews are an opportunity to understand what drives employees before they leave, especially the high performers. Leaders who listen well and ask the right questions can build trust and discover what inspires and influences their team, while positively impacting engagement, productivity, and ultimately the bottom line.

Here are some steps to conduct a stay interview to improve retention:

Determine the survey population
Leaders may conduct stay interviews with all employees or a select a few who are engaged, productive, trusted, and respected. Employees who have been with the organization the longest and are consistently high performers may be willing to share their insights.
Determine the questions to ask
Why do employees choose to remain with the company? What are their preferences when it comes to recognition? What barriers exist for them being able to do their best work? How can their leaders manage teams more effectively? The focus of the interview is to listen and pay close attention to what employees are saying. Questions should be open ended to easily expand the conversation. (More sample questions are included below.)
Determine when, where, and who will conduct the interviews
Stay interviews can be conducted as separate sessions or incorporated into periodic check-ins with individuals. Small groups suggest a sense of intimacy and allow all to be heard. However, if groups are too large, some may not feel comfortable speaking openly. Individual interviews convey the importance of time spent listening and sharing.

Active listening skills are key. Invest time in training and preparing managers or any leaders tasked with conducting the stay interviews. Do not assume that they know how to do so successfully or understand the purpose of conducting the interviews – if not done well, any misstep can erode trust and negatively impact engagement. The interview is not intended to address performance or conduct investigations.
Determine the next steps
Communicate appreciation for the shared insights. Implement any easily remedied suggestions. Keep the lines of communication open. Follow up on any questions or suggestions that could not be addressed in the sessions.

Consider these sample stay interview questions:

Describe a time, past or present, when you had the opportunity to do your best work.
What makes you excited to come to work? What makes you dread it?
What do you do for fun outside of work? (Use a question like this to get to know your employee.)
Are there any barriers to getting work done around the office?
How do you prefer to be recognized? How do you recognize others?
What development opportunities would you like to explore? Which positions or areas are you interested in beyond your current responsibilities?
What talents, interests, or skills do you have that we could use better?
How can we work better as a team? How can your leaders manage the team more effectively?
Why do you choose to remain with this company?

Employees want to know that they matter. When structured well and properly executed, stay interviews can reveal warning signs that indicate key employees may be flight risks, or perhaps simply in need of more support, direction, and training. These are low-cost measures that could mitigate losing the best talent. Turnover can be costly in many ways. Well-implemented stay interviews can be a valuable source of timely information and a worthwhile strategy to gauge overall satisfaction and engagement and ultimately help retain the organization’s top talent. Just remember, they are only as good as the actions taken to improve an organization. Results should be summarized and shared with decision makers on a regular basis to look for opportunities to make the organization a better place to work. For more information on how stay interviews and other strategies are used to attract and retain top talent employees, visit ERI.

How to Calculate Shift Differentials

Posted on March 10, 2022 | by ERI

A widespread practice among industries characterized by around-the-clock operations is to incentivize employees to work less-than-desirable hours (or shifts) with premium pay above the base rate. A typical standard work week consists of eight hours somewhere between the hours of 6:00 am and 6:00 pm; anything beyond those hours requires the worker to adapt to an alternative schedule to accommodate family and lifestyle. Less desirable shifts include evenings, nights, and perhaps weekends. While not legally required, many companies voluntarily offer shift differentials, which are additional compensation for employees who work outside “normal” work hours, ensuring staffing for 24/7 operations. The premium most often applies to non-exempt, hourly workers; however, in unusual circumstances such as the pandemic, some organizations may elect to provide a “bonus” to exempt employees working additional shifts to cover a shortage of workers, as an example. Common industries with shift differentials include health care, hospitality, manufacturing, retail distribution or fulfillment centers, and security.

Employers determine the rates for shifts, often based on data and common industry practices reported in relevant salary surveys. The shift differentials are created and applied to specific jobs, positions, or groups of workers, not to the individual employee. In a union environment, these differentials are often included in bargaining and negotiations; but, if there is a choice between differentials and a percentage to base pay, most unions would prefer the additional percentage to base pay.

If permanently assigned to a shift, the base pay rate may reflect a higher rate. However, if shifts vary, companies pay the premium rates only for the duration of the shift. Once the shift assignment is over, the shift differential is no longer applied. If an employee temporarily picks up the graveyard shift, then he or she will want to be properly paid for the less desirable work hours. So, accurate accounting is critical.

There are several ways to calculate premiums for shift differential pay:

Percentage of base rate:
The employee’s hourly rate is multiplied by a set percentage depending on the assigned shift. The additional amount is added to the rate and multiplied by the total number of hours worked on that particular shift.
Additional dollar amount per hour:
A premium rate is determined for all employees working a certain shift regardless of base rate. So, three employees earning $15, $20, and $22 per hour and working the night shift would each earn an additional $4 per hour, bringing their rates to $19, $24, and $26, respectively. The rates inclusive of the shift differential are multiplied by the number of hours worked during the shift to determine the earnings. Utilizing night shift differentials can help benchmark total pay and accurately price night shift roles, considering compensation differences between shifts.
Specific dollar amount per shift:
A set dollar amount is determined for working the shift, regardless of rate of pay. If the three employees mentioned above work the evening shift for the full five-day work week, then they each would receive an additional $2 per shift worked, or an additional $10. This amount is added to the earnings and divided by the total hours to determine the new rate of pay (for calculating overtime rates).

Shift Differential Example:

For example, an employee earns an hourly rate of $25.00. If assigned to work eight hours during the evening shift for two days of a weekly pay period, earnings are calculated as follows:

In each instance, total weekly earnings are $1,000. Of course, the rates have been simplified for the purposes of this demonstration. Shift differentials are not a legal requirement, so companies are allowed to determine the shift differential amounts and means of calculation. The compensation team would review historical payroll and employee data and project the need for the various shifts and labor, calculate the costs to the bottom line, and determine a rate that is both attractive to those working these shifts and cost efficient for the organization.

ERERI’s Salary Assessor includes a shift differential calculator for day, evening, or swing shifts. To learn more, visit ERI or contact ERI to schedule a guided tour.

How to Use Compensation Benchmarking Software to Save Yourself a Headache

Posted on March 3, 2022 | by ERI

Compensation professionals are responsible for ensuring the pay integrity of an organization – making sure that pay is fair, equitable, and consistent across employee populations, keeping the organization free of legal problems, and maintaining a reputation as a good place to work. They know the importance of studying the market in light of the current employee population, which can reveal pay inequities, trends in salary movement, and emerging hot jobs and also provide insights that an organization needs to stay competitive. In order to accomplish this, employee data must be reviewed and analyzed on a regular basis.

Compensation Benchmarking for Small Organizations

For small organizations, using an Excel spreadsheet may serve as an adequate tool to support the review and analysis of employee compensation data. It can be simple, easy, and cost effective if the employee population is small and relatively static. The process may look something like this:

A snapshot of employee data as of a specific date in time is extracted from the HR information system and downloaded into an Excel spreadsheet. The data extract generally consists of employee identifiers, such as name and ID number, job code, salary, date of hire, gender identity, age, ethnicity, years of service, department, and manager name – any relevant data needed to perform fair pay, equity, and compensation analyses. (If the information is not needed, it should not be included.)
The relevant data are initially reviewed and analyzed by applying calculations to determine such metrics as position in grade range, compa ratio, and salary compression, as well evaluations of fair pay and adverse impact. The compensation team performs this high-level overview.
Anecdotal data, such as comments regarding performance, potential, difficulty recruiting, or succession planning, are included as notes, with input from the manager, talent acquisition team, and any other sources.
Salary survey data are combined to show market rates, projected increases, and position. The survey data are manually researched, extracted, and added to the spreadsheet.
The compensation team spends additional time with the data, analyzing, reviewing, comparing, and making observations and recommendations.
Since the team does not operate in a vacuum, the data are shared with managers and leaders to review the initial recommendations and provide additional input. This part of the process is accomplished by dividing the original workbook into separate smaller workbooks sorted by department, cost center, manager, and/or senior leader. A timeline is communicated for completion of the review and salary adjustment suggestions, along with budget constraints.
The individual spreadsheets are returned and compiled into one master workbook, where compensation can evaluate the big picture impact of the suggested changes, overall costs, and budget impact and then follow up with managers regarding any outliers.
The suggested changes are presented to finance, budget, and senior leadership for final review and approval.
Once approved, the changes are communicated for HRIS and payroll system implementation. Managers are apprised of the final approvals. Letters detailing the changes are created and communicated to the affected employees, and the cycle is closed.
The compensation team may take the time to assess and document the process for the next cycle. However, all too often, time does not allow for this proactive evaluation.

Compensation Benchmarking for Large Organizations

This straightforward and simple process could work for large organizations as well; given budget and capital constraints, it is often the process applied. However, large organizations present a challenge to using spreadsheets because of the sheer volume of data alone. In the time it takes to make an initial review, the data may have already changed significantly. Add to that the dynamic nature of the data due to manager and department modifications, minimum wage changes, retirements, leaves of absence, and rehires. What’s more, employees have left the organization, new employees have been on boarded (providing different comparators of salary and experience), and employees have been promoted, demoted, received salary adjustments and raises, taken on new assignments, adjusted their working hours, etc. The data can quickly become outdated, leaving frustrated managers to review old or obsolete data, making observations and decisions irrelevant. Anyone who has used an Excel spreadsheet to analyze data under these circumstances can attest to the headaches that can accompany that task. Maintenance of the spreadsheet also presents a challenge as formulas may need to be changed/updated or metrics added. Too much time and energy can be focused on managing the spreadsheet itself instead of analyzing the data. It can be difficult to own the technical integrity of the workbook and step away to review the data holistically.

Compensation benchmarking software provides an efficient alternative to in-house spreadsheets, making compensation management easier and more effective for large organizations with robust data needs. A system dedicated to salary planning (allowing what-if analyses, regression analyses, trending of data, and other insights) with accurate, up-to-date data that reflect the current state is vital to making critical and possibly costly compensation decisions that could have long-term implications to the organization’s reputation, compensation strategy, and the bottom line. Compensation benchmarking software, such as ERI’s Assessor Platform, provides relevant market data for analyses and comparison, projected salary growth, and projected merit increase budgets across industries, jobs, and similar organizations. The salary benchmarking software has the capacity for multiple input and collaboration at the same time. Additionally, real-time analyses and budget implications make it an effective tool for reviewing compensation decisions. The IT department maintains responsibility for the compensation software system, including any updates, enhancements, or special reporting, leaving compensation free to focus on their strengths of analyses and observations.

Top 10 Highest-Paid CEOs in Manufacturing

Posted on February 23, 2022 | by ERI

Executive pay in public for-profit organizations can vary drastically depending on a variety of factors, including the organizational size and scope, as well as the industries in which they operate. However, unlike many other jobs, geography plays little role in compensation for top executives. Regardless, CEOs are typically (though not always) the highest-paid executives at many organizations.

For the purposes of this examination, base salary serves as the metric since it is predetermined and the most fixed among the various forms of executive compensation. Other pay, defined as excess benefits and perquisites greater than $10,000, is the second most common form of CEO compensation and is also included in the table below. Bonus, nonequity, stock, options, and pension are not included.

The following is a summary of top CEO pay in manufacturing industries broken into two major groupings. Industries are defined using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, as indicated by the organization. For every CEO, compensation is restricted to the organization’s primary SIC code to prevent duplicate entries. Learn more about top CEO total executive compensation in different industries, including the top 10 highest-paid medical professionals in nonprofit health care and the top 10 highest-paid CEOs in real estate.

Because manufacturing spans a wide range of SIC codes (from 2000 to 3990), it was broken into two sub-groups that reflect more commonality than manufacturing as a whole. This resulted in a separate table for organizations that manufacture metals, machinery, electronics, transportation equipment, and instruments (SIC 33xx, 34xx, 35xx, 36xx, 37xx, 38xx) and organizations that manufacture chemicals, petroleum, and plastics or rubber (SIC 28xx, 29xx, 30xx).

Top 10 CEO Base Salary for Metals, Machinery, Electronic, Transportation, and Instrument Manufacturing

Company	Name	Title	Salary	Other Pay
Apple Inc	Timothy Cook	Director and CEO	$3,000,000	$11,769,259
General Motors Co	Mary Barra	CEO & Chairman of the Board	$1,995,000	$21,662,987
Abbott Laboratories	Miles White	Executive Chairman of the Board	$1,900,000	$17,928,384
Lockheed Martin Corp	Marillyn Hewson	Executive Chairman of the Board	$1,877,519	$26,622,306
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc	C. Goncalves	Chairman of the Board, President and CEO	$1,810,016	$16,701,389
Ford Motor Co	James Hackett	Director, President and CEO	$1,800,000	$14,928,505
Harley-Davidson Inc	Jochen Zeitz	Chairman of the Board, President and CEO	$1,682,692	$7,706,250
Howmet Aerospace Inc	John Plant	Executive Chairman of the Board and Co-CEO	$1,600,000	$37,491,008
Caterpillar Inc	D. Umpleby	CEO and Chairman of the Board	$1,600,000	$12,076,551
General Dynamics Corp	Phebe Novakovic	Chairman of the Board and CEO	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$17,743,499

Fiscal Year 2020; SIC: 33xx, 34xx, 35xx, 36xx, 37xx, 38xx

Top CEO Base Salary for Chemical, Petroleum, and Plastic/Rubber Manufacturing

Company	Name	Title	Salary	Other Pay
Valhi Inc	Robert Graham	Vice Chairman of the Board, CEO and President	$8,080,000	$0
Bausch Health Companies Inc	Joseph Papa	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$2,015,031	$16,622,525
The Estee Lauder Companies Inc	Fabrizio Freda	President, CEO and Director	$2,000,000	$19,435,428
Valero Energy Corp	Joseph Gorder	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,800,000	$18,122,417
Merck & Co Inc	Kenneth Frazier	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,702,006	$20,386,423
Huntsman Corp	Peter Huntsman	Chairman of the Board, President and CEO	$1,700,000	$11,829,958
Methanex Corp	John Floren	Director, President and CEO	$1,698,840	$7,223,721
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co	Giovanni Caforio	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,687,115	$18,463,787
Nike Inc	Mark Parker	Executive Chairman of the Board	$1,676,923	$18,316,099
Phillips 66	Greg Garland	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,675,008	$23,314,366

Fiscal Year 2020; SIC: 28xx, 29xx, 30xx

When taken as a whole, total compensation packages for the top executive employees vary considerably across organizations. This is due to a variety of complex factors that include market values, vesting time tables, and other variable-related compensation that are often difficult to compare. However, as can be seen, base salaries, though considerably large, tend to be more consistent.

Top 10 Highest-Paid CEOs in Banking and Finance

Posted on January 11, 2022 | by ERI

The following is a summary of top CEO pay in banking and finance industries broken into two major groupings. Industries are defined using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, as indicated by the organization. For every CEO, compensation is restricted to the organization’s primary SIC code to prevent duplicate entries. Learn more about top CEOs in different industries, such as the top 10 highest-paid CEOs in health care or the highest-paid CEOs in tech.

Below are two separate tables for banking organizations (SIC 60xx) and organizations engaged in investment and finance (SIC 61xx, 62xx, 67xx).

Top 10 CEO Base Salary in Banking

Company	Name	Title	Salary	Other Pay
Citigroup Inc	Paco Ybarra	CEO, Institutional Clients Group	$8,355,669	$9,417,658
JPMorgan Chase & Co	Daniel Pinto	Co-President, Co-CEO, CEO of the Corporate and Investment Bank and CEO of Europe	$8,240,290	$14,306,896
Wells Fargo & Co	Charles Scharf	Director, CEO and President	$2,500,000	$17,892,046
JPMorgan Chase & Co	James Dimon	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,500,000	$30,164,554
Bank of America Corporation	Brian Moynihan	Chairman of the Board, President and CEO	$1,500,000	$24,440,571
Citigroup Inc	Michael Corbat	Director, CEO	$1,500,000	$21,484,090
TFS Financial Corp	Marc Stefanski	Chairman of the Board, President and CEO	$1,500,000	$3,229,853
Citizens Financial Group Inc	Bruce Van Saun	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,487,000	$12,848,323
New York Community Bancorp Inc	Joseph Ficalora	Director and CEO; President of the Company and Commercial Bank	$1,400,000	$3,695,874
East West Bancorp Inc	Dominic Ng	Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Company and the Bank	$1,275,000	$5,658,775

Top 10 CEO Base Salary in Investment and Finance

Company	Name	Title	Salary	Other Pay
GCM Grosvenor Inc	Michael Sacks	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$3,700,000	$282,540
Sculptor Capital Management Inc	Robert Shafir	Executive Managing Director, CEO and Director	$2,000,000	$8,145,682
Goldman Sachs Group Inc	David Solomon	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$2,000,000	$21,686,467
Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc	Peter Carlino	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,808,468	$9,857,295
General American Investors Company Inc	Jeffrey Priest	President, CEO and Director	$1,750,000	$78,000
Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc	Mahesh Aditya	Director President and CEO	$1,550,000	$892,106
BlackRock Inc	Laurence Fink	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,500,000	$25,856,432
Icahn Enterprises LP	Keith Cozza	President, CEO and Director	$1,500,000	$5,011,588
CME Group Inc	Terrence Duffy	Executive Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,500,000	$14,618,467
American Express Co	Stephen Squeri	Chairman of the Board and CEO	$1,500,000	$22,721,319

When taken as a whole, total compensation packages for the top executive employees vary considerably across organizations. This is due to a variety of complex factors that include market values, vesting time tables, and other variable-related compensation that are often difficult to compare. However, as can be seen, finance and banking CEO salaries, though considerably large, tend to be more consistent.

Why Geographic Salary Differentials Are Important

Posted on December 16, 2021 | by ERI

Imagine a large employer with headquarters in Orange County, California, opening an office in Biloxi, Mississippi. The employer knows exactly what to pay employees in the Orange County market; however, the Biloxi market is unfamiliar. What assumptions should be made to evaluate the budget necessary to successfully operate in Biloxi? If the company applies the same salary range for the same type of job in Biloxi that it uses in its headquarters in Orange County, then the budget implications could be monumental given the cost of labor is vastly different in these two locations. Assuming Biloxi’s cost of labor is much lower than that of Orange County, then the same type of job in the same company would typically pay a much lower salary in Biloxi. To compete in the same labor market, whether Orange County or Biloxi, employers must diligently study the market and tweak their compensation strategies accordingly to achieve the desired results – to lead, lag, or match the going market rate – and effectively compete for talent.

Salary surveys are used to determine to what degree there are verifiable differences in competitive salary levels across labor markets, comparing industry and company size (e.g., revenue, assets, number of employees). If, on average, certain jobs in a particular city are 15% above the national average, then one can expect to pay 15% higher in salaries for those jobs in the given city. Salary ranges are then adjusted based on the data and applied accordingly to each location, facilitating perceptions of fair pay.

Geographic salary differentials, along with salary surveys, are important tools in leveling the playing field for organizations with employees in different locations. Geographic salary differentials allow translation of different labor costs from one locale to another, so that comparisons are apples to apples, creating fair and equitable compensation across labor markets. Salaries can fluctuate significantly based on where jobs are located and such factors as the rate of unemployment and the demand for and supply of a qualified labor force in the area.

Geographic pay differentials facilitate greater cost control. In the example above, if Orange County salaries are not necessary to compete for talent in the Biloxi location, then the company would realize savings by adjusting the salary range for the new location. The overall compensation philosophy and talent strategy should factor in attracting and retaining talent in premium markets, as well as managing labor costs in non-premium markets. Where practical and possible, market pricing jobs is a best practice in compensation planning.

While using geographic salary differentials can add a layer of complexity to managing pay, getting pay right must remain a top priority. “In today’s highly competitive market environment, a geographic salary structure is an excellent tool to ensure that competitive salaries are paid across a country, recognizing that jobs should be neither over-paid nor under-paid relative to their specific marketplaces. When a decision is made to recognize differences in geographic pay, it is important to implement a simplified process that is legal, market competitive, and equitable to your labor force. Geographic salary structures also ensure that jobs are market priced fairly to support a highly motivated, engaged workforce.” For more information regarding geographic salary structurers, visit erieri.com.

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