The records are historic. The average total compensation of bosses in the CAC 40 index increased by 52% in 2021 and reached a fifteen-year high of 7.9 million euros, more than 100 times the average compensation of employees, according to a report. published this Tuesday by the firm Proxinvest.
The firm notes a “post-health crisis rebound” with “a sharp increase in median and average salaries in all indices (CAC 40 and SBF 120 of the 120 largest listed companies in France), we are of course historical records,” said Jehanne Leroix, director of ESG research (environmental, social and governance criteria) during a vision conference with the media.
This increase is also explained by a “Carlos Tavares effect (general manager of the Franco-Italian-American automotive group) Stellantis”, whose remuneration reached a record for a manager according to Proxinvest, at 66.7 million euros (19.15 depending on the company). “This is the first time in fifteen years that a company has presented total compensation of more than 50 million euros,” says the report.
Carlos Tavares, Bernard Charles and Daniel Julien
It is also “the first time in eight years that the average compensation of CAC 40 executives represents more than 100 times the average compensation of employees”, adds the same source, which detects less compliance with the maximum socially acceptable compensation ceiling ( 5.12 million euros) from Proxinvest.
The figures for 2021 were compared to those of 2019 before the health crisis, and not 2020 which is considered to be an unrepresentative year given that a number of managers have waived part of their remuneration. The firm which issues voting recommendations to shareholders for general meetings has noted that since 2021 all CAC 40 companies now have ESG performance conditions in one of the variable compensation of the CEO.
The trio of highest paid executives is made up of Carlos Tavares from Stellantis (66.7 million euros), Bernard Charlès from Dassault Systèmes (44.1 million euros including 40.8 million in shareholder remuneration) and Daniel Julien from Teleperformance (€19.6 million). The report values all forms of executive compensation: fixed, annual bonus, fees, benefits in kind, stock options and free performance shares valued on their grant date, cash incentives and other indirect forms of compensation.