Survey Finds Total Compensation for Execs Continues to Climb

 The 2014 AESC BlueSteps Executive Compensation Report, released by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), has shared that nearly half (44 percent) of executives at the CEO/President level experienced a rise in total compensation in the last fiscal year.

Of those CEOs who experienced an increase in total compensation, 38 percent received +16 percent or higher growth in the last fiscal year. The greatest percentage of respondents at this level (45.6 percent) earned annual base salaries in the $251-400K bracket. The last year was also positive for executives at the director and EVP/SVP/VP levels, as two-thirds of both groups received an increase in total compensation.

Additional findings of the report include:

• 45.6 percent of CEOs made base salaries of $251-400K, while the rest of the C-suite (64.7 percent) earned $151-300K–$100K less than the CEOs.
• The gender pay gap begins to develop at the $250K base salary level and above, due to fewer women being represented in C-suite positions.
• Long-term incentives were an important motivating factor to most executives, with 60.5 percent stating that they believe long-term incentives have motivated them to stay at their current company longer, until these incentives mature.

Karen Greenbaum, AESC president and CEO, said: “This survey shows that total compensation is on the rise for most executives. It is interesting to note that executive search revenues grew by 8.6 percent year-on-year during quarter three indicating increased demand for top level talent, according to the AESC’s latest ‘State of the Industry’ statistics. There is no doubt that, as businesses are now in growth mode, top talent is highly valued and sought after. For many organizations, executive search is the solution to their talent concerns and the profession is responding.”