The salaries of big British bosses fell in 2020, showing moderation due to the pandemic, revealed Thursday, August 19, the High Pay Center research center.
A managing director of a company in the London Stock Exchange’s flagship FTSE-100 index made an average of £ 2.69million (€ 3.16million) in 2020, down 17% from to 2019, according to this study. However, this is still 86 times more than the average salary of a full-time worker.
This decline can be explained in particular by the decision of certain groups not to pay bonuses to their managers or to limit their size. On average, bonuses reached 828,000 pounds (973,000 euros), against 1.1 million (1.29 million euros) in 2019. And 64% of companies have paid, against 89% the previous year.
AstraZeneca boss at the top of the highest paid
The study further shows that the six female-headed FTSE-100 groups paid them £ 2.63 million (€ 3.09 million), less than the £ 2.8 million (3 , € 29 million) paid to male CEOs.
The highest paid boss in 2020 was the French Pascal Soriot, at the head of the pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca, one of the first to have proposed a vaccine against the Covid-19. The leader received a total of 15.45 million pounds (18.16 million euros). However, the laboratory’s remuneration policy was challenged by shareholders at a general meeting in May. It had only been validated by 60% of them.
Brian Cassin, at the helm of the Irish data management group Experian, comes in second with 10.30 million pounds (12.11 million euros).
A woman in ninth place
The first woman in the ranking is Emma Walmsley, managing director of the pharmaceutical group GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), with 7.03 million. She is at the 9e place, just ahead of Tim Steiner, boss of online food delivery specialist Ocado, one of the big winners of the pandemic, which touched 6.97 million.
“The lowest wages this year show that the system is working as it should”, underlines Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Center. Corn “These are still very generous sums for individuals who have touched millions of pounds during their careers, at a time when in general government support for the economy was probably more important for the survival and success of the larger British companies as the decisions of their leaders ”, according to him.
In the United Kingdom, British companies with more than 250 employees have been obliged since last year to disclose the pay gap between the CEO and the average employee. The country has also implemented for several years the “Say on pay” which gives shareholders the opportunity to express their views on executive compensation, but without having any binding power.