Major FTSE 100 Company respond to HPC challenge at company AGM
FTSE 100 company Capita today committed to publishing the pay ratio between their highest and lowest paid employees at their Annual General Meeting in the City of London.
Responding to a question from Luke Hildyard of the High Pay Centre think tank, Capita CEO Paul Pindar said the company would be ‘very happy’ to publish the ratio, showing the total pay of their highest paid employee as a multiple of the lowest earner.
Interest in pay ratios has grown in recent years, following revelations that the average FTSE 100 Chief Executive now earns 185 times the average worker, up from 15 times in 1979.* In America, measures requiring all companies to publish the pay ratio between their highest and median earners are currently being developed. At their AGM yesterday, Centrica said their highest paid employee was paid 63 times their lowest paid employee – though this figure is based on CEO Sam Laidlaw’s £950,000 basic salary and does not include bonuses that raised his take-home pay to almost £5 million. Barclays Bank also told their AGM they would look into their pay ratio.
Deborah Hargreaves, Director of the High Pay Centre, said: ‘Research shows that a big pay gap between the highest and lowest earners within a company is damaging to employee morale and productivity, so reducing pay ratios isn’t just a question of social justice. It’s also good business sense. We welcome Capita’s commitment to transparency on pay ratios and will watch their progress with interest.’