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People should be paid what they are worth to the person/company paying them. If it takes 6-8 million to attract the best CEO away from the current company, then they pay it. If it takes 24 million to attract the best free agent baseball or football player, then they should pay it if they want him. The value of a fast food or retail worker is $8-10 because so many people are applying for those jobs and they are easily replaced. The CEO of Walmart is responsible for revenues of $469 Billion.
At 35 million, if the CEO of Walmart should take no pay and his salary be divided among the 1.4 million workers, it would only amount to a raise of $25/year per employee a year.
I understand that currently to attract talent in different industries you have to pay out big bucks. I think that should change, but it has to be done by everyone across the board or it won't work.
Are you sure about that math? Spreading $35 million out over 1.4 million people only gets each worker $25 dollars each?
I think the answer is yes. Does any human being do anything at their job to deserve being paid more than 5 million per year at the most ? While the other employees of the company the ones who keep the company running day to day get paid a tiny fraction of that ? Many of the people who work the hardest are getting only part time pay and no health benefits and then laid off . While ceos are kept fat and happy.
Companies claim they can't afford to treat employees any better but they can afford to pay the ceo and upper management exorbitant salaries? I think there should be a cap on the salaries of all ceos and that money should be shared with the rest of the employees of the company to give them full time hours and great benefits. They would be happy loyal employees who work hard for the company and profits would soar. They could also afford to buy more to keep our economy running.
No......you are off base. High flying CEO salaries make great headlines just like huge pro sports contracts but they are a small percentage of the business costs. I suspect the payroll taxes or healthcare costs for a large company alone exceeds the CEO salary ten fold!
1. In some companies (Apple, Steve Jobs) the CEO has a small salary ($1 a year for Jobs)
2. In small businesses the CEO might make less than the employees on a weekly basis. I am the CEO of a company that does less than 1mm in annual sales. There are plenty of weeks when my check is less than all of the employees particularly when cash flow slows or big expenditures are due.
3. There are plenty of employees that believe they are underpaid no matter what. From an ownership standpoint I look at every hire as "how much money will they make me, net after salary, benefits etc." If someone isn't carrying their weight, they get let go.....simple math. Some people just believe there is a pot of gold under the management desk, in most cases there isn't.....Happy employees making huge salaries = soaring profits is a fantasy. The math is bad and most companies hit a ceiling on production. If you make BBQ grills, the best employees ever will only sell X number of grills per year. There is a fixed demand and there is a limit to what the market will bear as far as prices.
4. Look at the revenue of a business, look at the labor costs and then factor the CEO salary as a percentage of the revenue.....often it is 1% or less. So just like 300mm baseball contracts or a crazy CEO salary for every one making "out of control" salaries there are 1000 that are making regular level salaries. For example, Dustin Pedroia from the Red Sox just signed a 100+ million dollar contract yet there are players that were on the World Series team last year and were instrumental in winning the series that made 550K per year (Daniel Nava). So it would be a non sequitur argument to say all the Red Sox players are multi-millionaires......just like all CEO salaries are out of control.
I understand that currently to attract talent in different industries you have to pay out big bucks. I think that should change, but it has to be done by everyone across the board or it won't work.
Are you sure about that math? Spreading $35 million out over 1.4 million people only gets each worker $25 dollars each?
Yeah the math is right......35/1.4 = 25
So a guy should work for free so all the Walmart employees get an extra 48 cents a week......
American CEO's currently make about 300 to 400 times the salary of their lowest paid employee. That's on Average. McDonalds, Starbucks, Walmart, etc are all in the 1000x range. 40 years ago CEO's averaged 40x. Most countries today are around 100x. American CEO's are greedy but the government is at fault for rewarding their behavior.
Big corps keep getting tax breaks and other free money from the government under the promise of more and better jobs. With extra cash they streamline, outsource, and give upper management raises. Living wage jobs shrink and benefits for the average worker dwindle down to nothing. Greedy people will always take more for themselves whenever they can. Money never trickles down. This has been proven.
Creating more jobs in the US would be as easy as giving 100% of the tax breaks to companies that create jobs and offer true living wages with basic benefits. American companies could do that and still retain the highest paid CEO's (compared to their lowest paid employees) in the world. If when the dust settled, they ended up with four times the pay ratio of Japan, many American CEO's would probably jump out of their penthouse windows in shame.
1. Do you think the CEO of McDonald's works harder than the guy flipping burgers? Burger flipper thinking about global expansion plans for the next decade on the weekends? American CEO's are not greedy, they get paid what the board of directors offers and the government doesn't reward anything! Your whole statement there is nonsense!
2. Some big companies get tax breaks, ok but I would love to see some links to that info you posted. Got any footnotes for that paragraph?
3. Living wages/ basic benefits? Where does it stop?.....What about the part that the employee should better themselves? Low wage jobs are for low skill labor......you cannot pay everyone $25 an hour with benefits if you want 79 cent burgers and $1 cokes. It is a vicious circle, pay more and charge more but wait a meal at McDonalds is now $15 and people don't go there as often so lets fire some staff so the guy that used to make $9 an hour, then $25 is home sitting on the couch because the model doesn't work!
Unlike ceos who once they get entrenched in the system are able to stay the rest of their working lives. Still you do have a point I agree.
False.....there are plenty of CEOs that become "damaged goods" after a failed company or scandal. When you are the top dog sometimes you can't ever get back on top!
A few highlights:
Chiefs with controversies on their resumes face high hurdles. Mike Zafirovski left Nortel Networks Corp. last August amid a dismantling of the fallen technology giant following a bankruptcy-court filing. He prefers to lead another large business and has prepared a detailed, two-page chart of his career financial-feats, according to someone familiar with the matter.
Mr. Zafirovski spent more than three years trying to turn Nortel around, but critics say he didn't move fast enough. Its bankruptcy hurts his job hunt, according to recruiters.
Big-company mergers have eliminated dozens of senior management jobs, too. Jonathan Schwartz, the former chief Sun Microsystems, now owned by Oracle Corp.and Todd Stitzer at Cadbury, now owned by Kraft Foods Inc. are among those hoping to be CEOs elsewhere. Mr. Stitzer says he has flirted with several mid-sized U.S. concerns about taking their helm.
Agreed, they are overpaid . The only difference is that for every success like Oprah or Simon Cowell there are thousands of wannabees who will never become famous . There are also many celebrities that burn out and go away as quickly as fame shined on them. Unlike ceos who once they get entrenched in the system are able to stay the rest of their working lives. Still you do have a point I agree.
How are they overpaid?
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There are plenty of union morons getting paid top dollar to do the bare minimum.
