“Given the scrutiny, risk, and liability associated with being a director, increases have been slower than some might expect,” said Ryan Hourihan.

“Total rewards professionals also need to determine exactly what is being posted for open positions—whether it’s the entire pay range or the minimum to pay range midpoint,” said Jim Hudner, a managing director at Pearl Meyer.

“It’s important for boards to understand how they compare to market practice to ensure their programs are competitive and capable of attracting the caliber of director expected by shareholders,” said Ryan Hourihan.

"Job titles are a way to do many things — attract employees, retain them, and provide job satisfaction,” said Rebecca Toman, vice president.

“At publicly traded companies, topics relating to employee engagement and culture gained prevalence in what's included in the remit of compensation committees,” said Bill Reilly, managing director. “These gains speak to the continued focus from comp committees on being more mindful of broader human capital issues.”

In a recent poll by Pearl Meyer, 13% of employers said they are using new job titles to reward employees, up from 8% in 2018.

"There is more of a move these days for directors to give each other feedback during—or in addition to—an annual board assessment, and that can help mitigate the risk that you end up with ‘zombie’ directors in the first place," said Peter Thies, managing director.

“People talk. It reinforces the need for a rational, explainable, and defensible set of pay practices and policies so you're beyond criticism or reproach," said Ed Steinhoff, managing director at Pearl Meyer.

Instead of receiving a large, guaranteed salary, “the view is that there should be more accountability and more performance orientation to executive compensation,” said Aalap Shah, managing director.

“For employees that have some tenure with a company, a down round or depreciated value can result in a perverse incentive to go ‘next door’ and get a new package that is valued at a much lower stock price but [has a] higher wealth creation opportunity,” said Aalap Shah, managing director.

“One of the top five things an incoming CEO should be doing is succession planning, because that is a company that is truly looking at the future and is appropriately considering corporate governance,” said Aalap Shah, managing director.

"If the board approaches the CEO and says, 'We would like to talk about CEO succession,' and the CEO feels threatened by that, or if they actively resist that, it's time to find a new CEO," said Peter Thies, managing director.