Fat Cat Friday 2019:
Only Six FTSE CEOs are Women and they Earn 54% of the Salaries of Male Counterparts
Analysis from The Equality Trust shows that the six women CEOs [1] in the FTSE 100 earned on average (mean) £3,163,300 per year while their male counterparts earned £5,861,510. This translates to women CEOs earning just over half (54%) of their male counterparts.
A FTSE 100 CEO now earns an average (median) annual pay of £3.926 million [2] per year. Top bosses’ pay will have surpassed the annual salary of an average worker (£29, 574) on Friday 4th January. It would take an average worker 133 years to earn a CEO’s average pay.
FTSE 100 CEO average annual pay is:
- 321 times more than a minimum wage worker
- 217 times more than a care worker
- 133 times more than an average worker
- 121 times more than a nurse
- 103 times more than a teacher
- 95 times more than a police officer.
These figures have all increased since last year. [3]
According to a recent report by Green Park [4] there are currently five BAME CEOs of FTSE 100 companies and it found that 48 FTSE 100 companies had no ethnic minority presence on their boards in 2018.
The Equality Trust is analysing the FTSE 100 in terms of CEO pay ratios, gender pay gap, Living Wage accreditation, worker engagement and other indicators of inequality. A publicly available dashboard and report will be available in March 2019, ranking the companies sector-by-sector.
Dr Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director of The Equality Trust, said:
“Even women who have reached the highest echelons face a gender pay gap and are paid less than men. The cosy club mentality of top companies continues, dominated largely by white males.
“Working people find that they cannot earn enough to feed their families without being forced to visit food banks. Many are experiencing very real hardship as the flawed system of Universal Credit is rolled out. Meanwhile, it is a national scandal that FTSE CEO Fat Cats have creamed off even more pay this year. The average FTSE 100 CEO is taking home their annual salary before the first working week of the year is even finished.
“We can all see that this rampant inequality is damaging UK society. A society that values its teachers, care workers and nurses at less than 1% of a FTSE CEO is beyond broken. Countries with high levels of inequality, such as the UK, have higher levels of mental and physical ill health, obesity, drug and alcohol addiction and lower levels of trust and educational attainment. To create a society where all flourish, we must tackle inequality urgently.”
Ends
Notes to editors
For interviews or further comment please contact jo.wittams@equalitytrust.org.uk
The Equality Trust is the national charity that campaigns to improve quality of life in the UK by reducing economic and social inequality. UK income inequality is among the highest in the developed world and evidence shows that this results in poorer mental and physical health, higher violent crime, poorer educational outcomes and lower levels of trust. Inequality affects us all.
1. There are currently 6 women CEOs of FTSE 100 companies: Carolyn McCall (itv), Emma Walmsley (GSK), Alison Brittain (Whitbread), Olivia Garfield (Severn Trent), Alison Cooper (Imperial Tobacco) and Véronique Laury (Kingfisher).
2. According to the High Pay Centre calculations, the median pay for a FTSE 100 CEO in 2017 was £3.926 million, based on the publicly disclosed “single figure” measure. They assume that those CEOs work 320 days a year (19 days holiday and working three out of four weekends and 12 hour days, this equates to an hourly pay of £1,020 per hour.
Source: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/reward/executive-pay-ftse-100-2018
3. This refers to the average (median) pay detailed in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2018.
4. https://green-park.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/addfromserver/Green_Park_Leadership_10000_2018-MO_2.pdf