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Overpaid CEOs 2019

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Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#2
I feel like CEO pay is one of these emergent problems with our current system. We have this group of people whose salaries are just astronomical compared to the average person in the company, and whilst it's true their job could technically make more of a difference these payouts are totally asymmetrical and completely independent of how effective a CEO is.

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#3
post #2

I feel like CEO pay is one of these emergent problems with our current system. We have this group of people whose salaries are just astronomical compared to the average person in the company, and whilst it's true their job could technically make more of a difference these payouts are totally asymmetrical and completely independent of how effective a CEO is.

The CEO is the only person in the company who can really negotiate for what they're worth (instead of the commodity price for their labor) because business people don't usually have specialized irreplaceable positions and technical people are not usually negotiation experts.

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#4
The CEO (and upper management in general) pay scale is total BS when viewed through normal compensation lenses, unlike normal people who are paid for their time, upper management is usually compensated on performance -but- they are compensated on the performance of their company (or division) and they get all the pie. Since nobody else's pay is scaling with performance (outside of bonuses which in my experience usually don't exceed 5% annual salary) their salaries end up inappropriate scaled into the stratosphere because the company's performance justifies increasing compensation to employees to retain them and sustain that performance. In actuality employee retention is bottoming out in the modern era (compare it to the 60s) and people are the top make f-u money that is so out of step with the people doing work at a company that it isn't even comparable.

Wealth and earnings inequality is a serious issue in this modern world and it's ridiculous, some people are more efficient than other people, nobody is 100x more efficient than anyone else. Take an arbitrary dude off the street and give them the experience of a CEO and I bet you that substituting him in would at most lose the company 40% of growth/whatever.

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#5
Software engineer unions are coming, and it will start with the games industry. Attitudes within our field are changing! Used to be you couldn't mention the U-word without a dozen engineers jumping down your throat bellowing about "efficiency" (for whom and what?) but engineers are smart and you can only fool them with the same old anti-union propaganda for so long.

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#6
post #2

I feel like CEO pay is one of these emergent problems with our current system. We have this group of people whose salaries are just astronomical compared to the average person in the company, and whilst it's true their job could technically make more of a difference these payouts are totally asymmetrical and completely independent of how effective a CEO is.

Agreed. The fact that pay is often still astronomical in the case of the worst possible outcomes strongly suggests that leverage is just an excuse. I'm pretty sure that the real answer is that CEO pay is just the Rules for Rulers [1], capitalism style.

[1] Rules for Rulers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#7
post #2

I feel like CEO pay is one of these emergent problems with our current system. We have this group of people whose salaries are just astronomical compared to the average person in the company, and whilst it's true their job could technically make more of a difference these payouts are totally asymmetrical and completely independent of how effective a CEO is.

And when their pay is tied to some degree to "effectiveness," it's tied to performance of the stock price, instead of the actual performance of the company. It's much more difficult to quantify the latter, but short term increases of company stock can be brought about by sacrificing the long term outcomes of the company as a whole.

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#8
post #2

I feel like CEO pay is one of these emergent problems with our current system. We have this group of people whose salaries are just astronomical compared to the average person in the company, and whilst it's true their job could technically make more of a difference these payouts are totally asymmetrical and completely independent of how effective a CEO is.

But pay is part of politics, and corporate government is less stingy than public government. Pay hikes are part of the game of alliance building that is played whenever the board elects a new CEO. Corporate government is plutocracy in practice.

Re: Overpaid CEOs 2019

#9
post #5

Software engineer unions are coming, and it will start with the games industry. Attitudes within our field are changing! Used to be you couldn't mention the U-word without a dozen engineers jumping down your throat bellowing about "efficiency" (for whom and what?) but engineers are smart and you can only fool them with the same old anti-union propaganda for so long.

Yes, though I think the key word that was keeping people from realizing software developers needed unions was "meritocracy". Developers were sold on the idea that people wanting union protection were replaceable, and that they, being the fantastic coders they were, were not.
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