QCG

Supporting Remuneration Committees in an environment of scrutiny and controversy

The Projects

We have supported numerous Remuneration Committees over the years and the current climate of intense media scrutiny in both public and private sectors and high levels of employee interest and anxiety have made demand for external experience and perspectives even more critical.  Over the past year we have advised public bodes, quangos and private sector companies.

Our Role

Typically our role would be in reviewing the terms of reference and the governance arrangement – for many organisations this is been a high profile issue – building, with the non-executives, the underpinning  reward philosophy for the most senior levels.  We develop the basis for defining and measuring performance, including, in many cases, support of the improvement in the organisation’s performance management arrangements.  Our role also encompasses researching and making recommendations on individual levels of remuneration covering base pay, bonus and other benefits.

Outcome

In the cases of one NDPB, after a fundamental review of the Executive Board remuneration strategy there was a re-statement of of philosophy and the re-design of the incentive plans to increase rigour both in the definition of  and measurement of performance requirements and the process for reviewing and agreeing performance awards. 

In the case of another organisation, we reviewed the efficacy of the data used by the Remuneration Committee to underpin the base pay and bonus decisions.  We found that using a single source approach led to year on year fluctuations which were not truly reflective of the external market for the roles under review.  We conducted a full market review of the top 40 positions using multiple market assessments.  This led to the development of a new incentive plan,, changes to the performance management and governance arrangements bringing greater rigour to the overall process.