Steven Hester's Bonus

lots of people are worth £1m+ pa and they know it.

Cheers

Don

So you think he should be working Mon-Fri and earning £8.50/h while shareholders share a few billions among themselves. Oh, yes. They have names for these people: they are called cashiers.

RBS got a bargain.

75K?  Be serious!

There's a link somewhere in this forum for Jokes.

And we were lucky ! Our dad used to make us sleep in a shoe box ...

Jim,

Mr Hester's only crime is to have been hired by RBS to restore its profitability. He's done a fine job this year and should be remunarated accordingly. As for B.C....Sorry,  I'm a busy man!

Personally I think Steven Hester is merely the tip of the iceberg and was a very easy target.  I think the issue here is one of reasonable fairness.  He clearly is a very able chap who has worked extremely hard to reach the top of his profession and as such deserves a significant reward.  The issue is one of proportion though.  The simple reality is that over the past 20 years the differential between the highest earners and the blue and white collar average has grown disproportionately large.  The average wage is around £25000 and I really do feel that a CEO is simply not worth 100x that amount, although 10x may be fair.

I also do not believe in the argument that says you have to pay ridiculous salaries to attract the best talent or to stop such people going abroad.  The simple reality is that people even at a senior level are not quite as mobile as current thinking implies.  Successful people enjoy a fine quality of life in England, great schools, superb countryside, excellent leisure opportunities and it's not always that easy to sell the beamed mansion is Sussex, tear the kids out of school and disappear to some tax haven in the third world.  Also in case anyone hasn't noticed the financial markets, industry and banks in the Western world are in a very depressed state and there simply aren't so many opportunities for these people as there once were.

I have spent the past twenty years in industry having my wages and terms and conditions squeezed and my workload increased due to a perceived need for cost savings while the Executives and bankers took a bigger slice of the pie.  Perhaps you will forgive me if I smirk a little if it's their turn to share the medicine...

Jonathan

Jim,

That's the beauty of these forums. Everyone has an opinion. Like them  or not, at the end of the day they  make people talk about all sorts of subjects  and  for sure that is a good thing. I may not agree  with some members views - musical, political, social, etc- but the forum is always open to a good discussion. I may not agree, but I respect everyones opinion on these forum. Tha'ts still the beauty of democracy. There's still a couple of places wherer one's abitlity to perform a heart surgery is equalled whether you drive a taxi and you can (un)comfortably drive a vintage automobile.

Well...

Tony

One can't ignore the fact that the average pay rise for directors (in the FTSE) was around 50% last year. Some probably deserved it, many probably didn't. In the current climate, people just see this as greed. The rich and the powerful have always got away with things that the small people would be strung up for. The latest being the head of the Student Loans company, a public body ....

The head of the Student Loans Company will have tax and National Insurance payments deducted from his £182,000 pay package in future, ministers say.

Unbelievable.

It's been so long since we owned anything like this. He's a publicly owned employee now and if the shareholders think the usual rules apply, perhaps they would care to dig into their pockets and pay me and everybody else what they owe.

This aside, we - and the media in particular - appear to be focusing on the pin head as usual. Big easy target. What about everybody else in the organisation? What do their bonuses all add up to? Steve's taking one for the team. Not written into his contract but understood without reservation. Doubtless a reward awaits down the line, well below the public and media radar.

My understanding is that RBS is not a nationalised company. It may be true that the UK government is the largest shareholder but that is not the same thing.

From looking at the third quarter results statement it seems that RBS is making a profit (full year results at the end of Feb?). Reported YTD Operating profit of £2,138 m against £1858 m in 2010.

lots of people are worth £1m+ pa and they know it.

 

No, they think they are.

 

steve

You're worth as much as you like if it's your pals who are setting the rates.

Whichever way you look at it, and whoever sets the salary, lots of people are worth a £1m pa.

You may not think so, and that's your prerogative. You may not like it and that's also ok.

Equally, i'm sure lots of people get £1m pa and aren't worth it.

Cheers

Don

Stephen Hester's salary and bonus.....a mere bagatelle...... http://www.globalpost.com/disp...ceo-golden-parachute

Hopefully since this is a link to news story Richard will not edit it.....I'm not entirely sure of the rules surrounding URL's these days!  If it is pulled then simply search for Eugene Isenberg payout pulled.

Cheers

Jim

Bankers get paid £1m p.a. plus performance related bonus and/or shares.

This group are responsible for countless millions & potentially the economic well being of this country. They have their package publicly scrutinised with media & political pressure to reduce it & forgo it despite it being part of an employment contract. 

England football manager gets paid £6m p.a., unconditional & non-performance related.

Then he gets sacked with a further £1.5m good riddance handshake.

He is resonsible for managing a group of people who kick a bag of air around for 90 minutes a few times a year.  No one discusses his pay packet.  

Strange.

Just a thought.  

I would't like to be so controversial Frank. 

..........or the amount of money collected by (say) four young men from Liverpool plucking strings and pushing air out of their mouths, albeit in a pleasant, co-ordinated sort of way.....

oh, sorry! You mean that's "entertainment", a bit like football, but on this forum everybody likes this "entertainment" (in some form or another).

So do we regulate pay or do we want a free society or is there any chance of self-imposed "moderation"

Cheers

Don