This briefing provides analysis of FTSE 100 trends with regard to executive director compensation, CEO-to-employee pay ratios and employee pay. This is intended as an update on figures assessed in HPC’s ‘CEO Pay’ and ‘Pay Ratios’ reports, presenting initial trends from firms that have since released annual reports not covered in the most recent publications, focusing on those with year ends after 1 April 2025.
The analysis has been broken down into industry classifications, helping to highlight sector-specific patterns in CEO pay and employee compensation. This briefing is of particular interest to investors and journalists who can use this data to monitor pay trends, inform engagements with firms and, in the case of the former, vote at company AGM’s.
The data reveals that income inequality within FTSE 100 firms continues to grow. Across the sample of 64 firms:
- Average CEO pay stood at £6.2 million and median at £5.2 million
- Average CEO pay increased 19.75% and median 15% from the year before for the same group of companies
- The average median employee pay increase was 6.23%, while the median returned 4.85%
- The average CEO to 25th percentile employee ratio was 144:1, while the median was 127:1
- The average CEO to median employee ratio was 108:1, while the median was 95:1
Not only are these trends of moral concern, but are also likely to have a negative impact on business productivity and economic growth. Research shows how large internal pay gaps can cause greater staff turnover, weakened employee morale and absenteeism. Ultimately, this briefing enables concerned stakeholders to better understand where these risks are currently greatest.