Elon Musk won’t get his $55 billion pay package after all

Elon Musk isn’t going to get that $55 billion pay package after all, a Delaware Chancery Court judge has ruled.

Tesla shareholders approved the package in 2018, which gave Musk incentive to hit specific milestones, including a market valuation of $650 billion, which was more than 10 times the valuation at the time. The trial hinged on a specific question: did Musk mislead the shareholders when he gave them the plan? READ MORE

Beyond the paycheck: The key to building a thriving workplace goes beyond salaries

Today’s news is filled with stories highlighting salary figures, from sky-high CEO compensation packages to boards trying to hide CEO pay increases during periods of austerity, to governments interfering with collective bargaining over wage increases and unions securing pay hikes.

Some provinces, including Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia, are also mandated to release annual sunshine lists of public sector workers who earn above $100,000 — all of which might suggest that higher pay equates to more productive, healthy and safe workplaces. But is this a correct assumption? What if the opposite is true? READ MORE

To Stem Turnover, Employers Favor Higher Salaries and Remote Work

What are businesses doing to retain finance and accounting staff and make job offers more appealing to candidates when they have open positions?

Both can be a challenge. In the spring CFO Survey from Duke University and the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, three-quarters of CFOs responding said the talent shortage was impacting revenue, and about half indicated it was constraining both revenue and full-capacity operations. READ MORE

It’s time to debunk these 2 myths about pay raises

After you receive that next big raise at work, or reach a certain economic level, you may think you’ll achieve contentment, happiness, or peace. The reality, though, is that such levels may very well be false summits that provide illusory benefits and ultimately, lead to just the next goal to reach in an ever-upward tilting treadmill. More, it turns out, may not be better; and there are different ways to achieve greater levels of contentment and happiness, regardless of your financial resources.  READ MORE

Pay Transparency Laws Are All The Rage

Pay transparency laws are catching fire in legislative bodies around the country.  As we have previously reported, these laws, which target pay equity, have gone into effect in a number of jurisdictions, such as Colorado and New York City in recent years. 

New York State is one of the latest to pass such a bill (on June 2, 2022) that requires private employers in the state to publish salary or wage ranges in all job postings.  The bill, which has been passed by the state legislature and awaits the signature of Governor Kathy Hochul, will become effective 270 days after it is signed.  READ MORE

Most US Employers Plan To Hike Pay and Address Pay Equity in 2022

If there was ever a time for employers to offer financial incentives to workers, it’s now, with millions of workers voluntarily leaving the workforce, the U.S. facing a massive labor shortage and American consumers grappling with the highest inflation rate in decades.

The vast majority of employers plan to respond by hiking their base pay rates this year, with many offering larger-than-normal raises, according to a new survey from Payscale. READ MORE

Companies speed up salary hikes, front load stock vesting

When Amazon announced changes last month to attract and retain talent, analysts tended to focus on the big jump in its base salary, from $160,000 to $350,000. But in another change, the company reportedly is also speeding up its stock vesting, which would enable some employees to access the value of their equity holdings much earlier, including in some cases under a monthly vesting schedule. Prior to the change, vesting was back-end-loaded, at a rate of 5% after the first year, 15% after the second and 20% every six months over the next two years. READ MORE

Never Respond First in a Negotiation

One of the most challenging spots in any negotiation is when you get asked the question: What do you want to get paid? This is a highly uncomfortable position to be in, especially when you recognize that the first rule of negotiation is that the first person who talks loses. The last thing you want to do is to say a number that's too high, or worse, too low that you get stuck with. So, if you get asked this question, what can you do to help ensure that you don't leave money on the table?

The good news is that there is an effective strategy for dealing with this. READ MORE

Nonprofit Salaries And The Leadership Gap

Recently, I was having a friendly conversation with someone at a professional event when he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I was the executive director of a nonprofit organization, his demeanor changed.

“I hate the word nonprofit,” he said. “I always get anxious when I hear it because I know someone’s making a profit.” Although he was quite a nice guy, his manner was a little defensive. READ MORE

FTC eyes rule to claw back money from companies that lie about gig worker earnings

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which enforces consumer protection rules, voted on Thursday to embark on regulations that would allow it to win back money from companies that are deceptive about the earnings that workers can make.

The FTC has previously gone after companies such as Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) in 2017 and Amazon.com Inc last year but has been prevented from tackling recent similar cases because of a Supreme Court ruling in April 2021 that said the agency had inappropriately used its rule-making powers to claw back ill-gotten gains. READ MORE

Inflation eroded pay by 1.7% over the past year

High inflation overshadowed a big increase in wages over the past year, amounting to a nearly 2% smaller paycheck for the average worker, according to federal data published Thursday.

Employers have raised wages at about the fastest rate in 15 years, as they compete for talent amid record job openings and quit levels. But consumer prices for goods and services are rising at their fastest annual pace in four decades, eroding those gains for many Americans. READ MORE

Fourth Circuit Requires Parity in Each Component of Compensation, Not Only in Total Compensation, Under Federal Equal Pay Act

On December 3, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected the notion that under the federal Equal Pay Act (EPA), equality should be assessed based on total compensation, holding instead that equality must be satisfied regarding each component of compensation. Sempowich v. Tactile Sys. Tech., Inc., No. 20-2245, 2021 WL 5750450 (4th Cir. Dec. 3, 2021). The Fourth Circuit hears appeals from the nine federal district courts in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This case has significant implications for how employers in the Fourth Circuit structure compensation. READ MORE

Amid Tight Labor Market, Organizations Are Increasingly Relying on Bonuses

WorldatWork’s 2021 “Bonus Programs and Practices” survey revealed that organizations have heightened their bonus activity to attract and retain employees during an especially active labor market.

The four types of bonus programs measured in the survey were: sign-on, referral, spot and retention. More than one in three (38%) of 957 organizations surveyed use all four types. Overall, the trend is increasing among use of all four bonus types, and of those without a program currently implemented, consideration is also growing. Only 7% of organizations reported not using any of the four types of bonus programs. READ MORE