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:
- Median CEO pay stood at £5.2 million and average at £6.2 million
- Median CEO pay increased 15% and average 19.75% from the year before for the same group of companies
- The median median employee pay increase was 4.85%, while the average returned 6.23%
- The median CEO to 25th percentile employee ratio was 127:1, while the average was 144:1
- The median CEO to median employee ratio was 95:1, while the average was 108:1
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.