Compensation and leadership consultancy Pearl Meyer found in a survey that the vast majority of companies offering title boosts with no money are smaller ventures, with companies below $3 billion in revenue far more likely to use job titles to reward employees than larger companies.

“We see companies are clearly at different stages of AI evaluation. However, the data show many are actively making leadership decisions and talking with employees about the impact of AI on the company and the workforce,” Susan Sandlund, managing director and leadership practice lead at Pearl Meyer, said in a statement.

“Companies will create more buy-in among employees if they have the education around what company stock programs mean for them,” said Aalap Shah, managing director.

Of employers recently polled by compensation and leadership consultancy Pearl Meyer, 13% said they are relying on new job titles to reward employees when money for raises was limited, up from 8% in 2018.

Getting rid of meeting fees and funneling that money to annual cash or equity retainers takes "a lot of noise out of the system," said Ryan Hourihan, a managing director at Pearl Meyer. "It's not a takeaway, but more of a simplification [of] director compensation."

“If shareholders are getting more interested in understanding the CEO succession process, it’s because they have seen failures, and it begs the question of how solid the process is at a given company, and how involved is the board?” said Susan Sandlund, managing director

"The judge found that the people [on Tesla’s board] weren't really independent of Musk," said Deb Lifshey, managing director.

“It’s not surprising that we are seeing stock grants deeper into organizations now that we’re on the other side of the Great Resignation,” said Aalap Shah, managing director.

While some boards have recoiled at the optics of paying incentives to healthcare executives if workers aren't getting raises, boards have done the right thing by saying, “‘We need to make money and we don't want to pay compensation out of red ink. If we have improved access and we have improved quality... [that] should be recognized,’” said Alexander Yaffe, managing director.

“Succession planning is no longer just an annual discussion,” said Peter Thies, managing director. “Directors are more and more attuned to the need for active, ongoing succession planning—not just to address an immediate situation, but also the medium and longer-term transition scenarios.”

“Companies already should have been disclosing any changes made to compensation plans in response to proxy advisors’ concerns in public filings, but the new ISS policy about disclosure in a public filing before ISS will issue a proxy alert to update its analysis is a new specificity,” said Deb Lifshey, managing director.

“While data provides an important context for any company’s compensation programs, it should not be the driver,” said Bill Reilly, managing director. “Compensation decisions should be based on your talent management strategy and business goals.”