There is a broad consensus among compensation consulting firms and proxy advisors that the conventional approach to US executive pay – providing a high percent of pay at risk withtargetpaysetatthe50th percentile – achieves the three basic objectives of executive pay. The high percent of pay at risk ensures a strong incentive to increase shareholder value, while setting target pay at the 50th percentile retains key talent (because target pay doesn’t drop below the 50th percentile) and limits shareholder cost (because target pay doesn’t rise above the 50th percentile). READ MORE