大公司减少为CEO提供期权奖励

    据人力资源咨询公司美世（Mercer）的最新调查显示，去年有更多行业领先公司在奖励高管时，发放了绩效奖励，而非需要股票期权。

    本周一发布的这项调查结果显示，51%的受调查公司使用业绩股票作为给CEO的奖赏，高于前一年的47%和2011年的41%。与此同时，在美世调查的公司中，22%的公司去年向CEO奖励了日后行权的限制性股票，低于2012年的23%。

    整体而言，使用期权作为奖励的公司比例降至25%，低于之前一年的28%和2011年的35%。这些数字反映了标普500指数成份股中超过240家公司的做法。

    业绩股票是只有在高管达到某些公司级的业绩目标时才会获赠的公司股票。美世数据、研究和出版全球总监泰德•贾瓦斯认为，倾向使用业绩股票奖励是由于全值股票与公司的即时业绩关联更为紧密。

    “事实上相比股票期权，业绩奖励与财务或运营业绩的联系更密切。”贾瓦斯在一份声明中表示，“但是，CEO的业绩指标和相关目标必须反映公司的战略目标，这样业绩股票才能具有深远的激励意义。”

    美世发现，CEO的平均总薪酬去年增长了6.5%，达到966万美元，包括短期和长期收入以及基本工资在内。美世称，去年的薪酬中值较2011年的886万美元增长了8.5%。调查还发现，薪酬中值有些“头重脚轻”，标普500指数前100强公司去年的CEO平均薪酬为1,440万美元，比标普500指数其余公司的CEO薪酬中值855万美元高68.5%。

    虽然如此，去年较小规模公司的CEO薪酬中值增长了6.7%，而前100强公司的CEO薪酬略微下滑，美世认为这反映出小公司正在努力提供与大公司相比有竞争力的薪酬。

    贾瓦斯说，在小公司向CEO发放更多年终奖和长期激励的推动下，这种做法最终可能带来负面影响。

    “如果这一趋势延续，当小公司赶上大公司的水平时，CEO整体薪酬可能会被压缩。”（财富中文网）

    译者：早稻米

    When it came time to reward top executives last year, more leading companies handed out performance-based awards instead of time-vesting stock options, according to a new study from human resources consulting firm Mercer.

    The study, released Monday, shows performance shares were used as CEO rewards by 51% of companies surveyed last year, up from 47% the previous year and 41% in 2011. Meanwhile, the number of companies surveyed by Mercer who rewarded their CEOs with time-vesting restricted stock fell to 22% last year from 23% in 2012.

    Overall, the use of option grants fell last year to just 25% from 28% the previous year and 35% in 2011. Those numbers reflect the activities of more than 240 companies from the S&P 500.

    Performance shares are company stock given to managers only if they meet certain company-wide performance targets. Ted Jarvis, Mercer’s global director of data, research and publications, sees the move toward these stock awards is due to a perception that full-value shares are tied more closely to a company’s immediate results.

    “In practice, performance awards are more closely aligned to explicit financial or operational outcomes than stock options,” Jarvis said in a statement. “However, the performance measures and associated goals must reflect the company’s strategic objectives for performance shares to be meaningful incentives.”

    Mercer found that the average total compensation for CEOs, which includes short-term and long-term payouts as well as base salary, increased 6.5% last year, to $9.66 million. Last year’s median compensation is up 8.5% from the $8.86 million posted in 2011, Mercer said. Mercer also found median compensation to be pretty top-heavy, with CEOs at companies in the top 100 of the S&P 500 raking in an average of $14.4 million last year, 68.5% higher than the $8.55 median compensation for CEOs in the rest of the S&P 500.

    However, median compensation for CEOs at smaller companies did increase 6.7% last year, while pay for CEOs at the top 100 companies was down slightly, which Mercer says could reflect efforts by the smaller companies to offer compensation packages that are competitive with those offered by their larger peers.

    Jarvis says that practice, fueled by smaller companies handing out greater annual bonuses and long-term incentives, could have negative results.

    “If this trend continues, we may witness pay compression as the smaller companies catch up with the big ones,” he said.