“If you have an incentive plan that the entire management organization views as completely unachievable, it is no longer an incentive plan,” said Jan Koors, senior managing director and head of consulting services for Pearl Meyer. “It becomes a disincentive plan, and that’s not in the shareholders’ best interest.”

“In addition to granting more stock, companies are doing it more frequently and granting it to more people within the organization,” said Aalap Shah, a managing director at Pearl Meyer.

“As compensation consultants, we—and our clients—typically look at executive pay is to ensure that we are paying competitively for the CEO position to ensure that the organization is meeting its business goals and thereby driving shareholder value creation,” said Ed Steinhoff, a managing director with Pearl Meyer.

In effect from this employee location shift, employers were surveyed to assess whether compensation would be adjusted. According to Pearl Meyer’s report, 4.3 percent of companies surveyed said they would reduce employee cash compensation if they moved to a lower-cost geographic area, while 56.5 percent said they would not.

“Compensation strategies are facing greater scrutiny, not only as a social issue (the S in ESG) but also as companies struggle with a labor shortage. In a 2021 Pearl Meyer survey, nearly half of respondents (47%) had experienced higher than usual employee turnover,” Corporate Compliance Insights reported.

“Human capital is essential for companies to execute their strategies and if they have shortages or an underqualified workforce, it creates risk for them,” said Bill Dixon, managing director.

“CEOs who don’t receive annual equity awards are still likely to feel the hit when share prices plummet, since many of those executives already own shares issued through up-front grants that are meant to last many years,” said Aalap Shah, managing director, Pearl Meyer.

“It would be unusual for a firm to award or reprice options so soon before selling itself in a deal that made those options worthless,” said Robert James, managing director, Pearl Meyer.

“Total [salary] increases for publicly traded companies are more modest than private companies, likely because public firms may utilize other vehicles to reward employees including more widespread equity programs,” Agenda reported based on Pearl Meyer's salary survey.

“Companies are confronting wage pressure across employment levels, and some are providing more flexible working arrangements in response,” said Bill Reilly, managing director at Pearl Meyer.

“While there are many factors that contribute to an employer’s pay gap, one of the more significant factors—over which employers have some control—is the percentage of women or under-represented minorities in executive and management roles,” Jim Hudner, managing director at Pearl Meyer.

"If you don’t have a salary increase program this year, you’re really behind the mark in 2022,” said Rebecca Toman, vice president of Pearl Meyer’s survey business unit.