“There is a growing interest in linking pay to diversity goals; whether this will have a material impact on how much compensation they’re making is hard to tell,” said Deb Lifshey, managing director, Pearl Meyer.

“I’m not sure there’s a formula [for cutting executive pay] that says, ‘If we do this, then we can keep X employees, but I think it is more of an internal solidarity and fairness issue about how you’re treating all levels of the organization,” said Beth Florin, a managing director at Pearl Meyer.