I recently had a medical issue that put me out of commission for a few weeks. Although this gave me some time to reflect and catch up with friends and colleagues, it also made me realize that, like nearly everyone reading this article, I really didn’t have the time to put my work on hold....
We hear the cries every day. “Executives make too much money. Let’s raise their taxes!” “Executives are our job creators. Let’s cut their taxes!” Perhaps key members of both sides of this argument are keeping the focus on compensation levels to deflect from where taxes and political contributions come from. Are there underlying reasons for...
I was chatting with a colleague about a talented new hire he was hoping his company would be able to bring on. The candidate aced her interviews and came with high recommendations. She went to the right schools and interned at the right firms. Everything seemed on track until she received her offer letter. The...
There once was a dedicated professional who was tasked with creating a company-wide stock plan at her new company. Henrietta Rachel Goldilocks (let’s just call her “HR Goldilocks”) had years of Human Resources and Compensation experience, but little interaction with broad-based equity compensation. She searched the web and spoke to some experts on the topic....
During the month of November I’m going to focus on my equity compensation roots. With both the IPO and M&A markets once again starting to gain attention, we can start by discussing a recent survey on equity compensation at private companies. The National Center for Employee Ownership, (www.nceo.org) just released their 2011 Private Company Equity...
What does “compensation” mean? Those of us who work as compensation professionals consider it a positive, professional word that speaks to people getting paid for services, effort or performance. Like many words, compensation actually means something else entirely. From the Collins World English Dictionary 1. the act or process of making amends for something
I am sure that when some people saw this title, their first thought was of the mighty compensation professional standing above the fray, bullwhip in hand, directing executives and employees to do what is required to ensure their company success. But let’s be realistic, that’s probably not going to happen. More importantly, in this case...
San Francisco has lots of tall buildings, so we need those cool ladder fire trucks that you see in the cartoons. There is a firefighter in the front seat and another with a steering wheel in the back. As one drove by on an emergency call my nephew asked me who was in charge steering...
Skype as been vilified for buying back shares from vested and exercised stock options (see details here and here). The acquisition of Skype by Microsoft increased the stock value enormously. Ex-employees complained that the company required the return of shares exercised, while only providing the original exercise cost as repayment. In the paradigm established during...
I like finding unique training tools for compensation professionals. My newest addition is the P90X training system. For those of you who have not tried it, or seen the infomercials, I should describe the program. An individual works out at home using a series of DVDs that guide them through varying daily exercise programs. The...
