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Swiss Referendum Backs Executive Pay Curbs
gollum123 writes in with news that Switzerland may soon have the world's strictest corporate rules. "Swiss voters have overwhelmingly backed proposals to impose some of the world's strictest controls on executive pay, final referendum results show. Nearly 68% of the voters supported plans to give shareholders a veto on compensation and ban big payouts for new and departing managers. The new measures will give Switzerland some of the world's strictest corporate rules. Shareholders will have a veto over salaries, golden handshakes will be forbidden, and managers of companies who flout the rules could face prison.The 'fat cat initiative', as it has been called, will be written into the Swiss constitution and apply to all Swiss companies listed on Switzerland's stock exchange. Support for the plans — brain child of Swiss businessman turned politician Thomas Minder — has been fueled by a series of perceived disasters for major Swiss companies, coupled with salaries and bonuses staying high."
The job doesn't justify the salary. They claim it offsets the high risks, but then they walk away with millions when it all goes wrong.
I do a good job as a matter of personal pride and professionalism, even though I'm not earning a massive salary and annual bonus.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Before people scream socialism, this rule is to make shareholders vote on the executive pay of the company they own shares in, not government bureaucrats. This is to protect shareholders from greedy upper management.
It provides a mechanism by which shareholders can set a pay limit for executives, and veto large pay packages which they don't think are in their interests. Since shareholders nominally "own" the company, I'm not sure why that would be particularly controversial, except that companies have been to some extent captured by their management.
There is nothing here that prevents high corporate pay if the owners of the company feel it's justified.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Who are you to say that another person's salary is unjustified
A voice representing the majority who are not rewarded (to excess) for failure.
I'm guessing you make a lot more than that, as do most slashdotters. But the difference between you and me isn't money. The difference is that I have accepted my place in life, as well as the fact that certain others will have orders of magnitude more than I have.
I am compensated by my employer based on my performance and contributions to my company. Should I be compensated by my employer if I take away from my company?
The difference is that I can see right through the smokescreen of moral superiority.
Your moral compass is out of calibration.
The difference is that I have accepted my place in life,
and ye shall forever be downtrodden as a result.
The vast majority of high-priced C-level hiring seems to be an exercise in some sort of magical thinking. Corporations see a success, and make a superficial attempt to imitate it. Throwing millions of dollars at one (or a handful) of executives is much easier than trying to understand their own internal dynamics.
"Steve Jobs turned Apple around, so what we need to do to make billions is find and hire the next Steve Jobs!" All while completely ignoring what Jobs actually did, leading to a situation where they'll pay millions for whichever executive wore more black turtlenecks over the last five years.
It's Cargo Cultism. Nice to see that the Swiss are taking a step away from it.
There are holes in your plan.
Not bad, but I got far more results by searching "Anonymous Coward".
There's nothing like $HOME
As a shareholder of a given company, I have, or should have, the right to squeeze you by the balls as I take the money BACK out of your pocket and return it to the us, the owners of the company.
And I could give a rat's ass about moral superiority. You go do whatever your little heart desires, but keep your hands off of my money.
You should never be able to get a bonus, as an executive, when you're company is losing money. Bankers seems to get bonuses no matter what. That defeats the point of a bonus.
"Jealousy" eh? The mating call of libertarians whenever the subject of who's getting paid to do what comes up.
From hard won experience, I know that attempting to debate this directly with a lib is as productive as arguing with my cat about it pissing on a wall. So, strictly for others who may be listening:
The pay of top executives is usually determined by a supervisory board. Getting on a board doesn't require much work, in exchange for which members enjoy a number of benefits determined by executives. Getting onto and staying on boards in the first place requires staying in the good graces of company executives. Thus, a positive feedback loop occurs, resulting in executive pay and departure packages determined not by metrics that benefit the owners, but by friends doing each other favors.
It's usually very difficult for the diffuse class of owners to organize themselves to bring company executives to heel. What the Swiss have done is to make life a little bit easier for shareholders to exercise their rights.
Luke, help me take this mask off