Professor of Reward & Sustainability
Researcher, Governance
(Executive) remuneration principles are systems of beliefs and reasoning employed by the board of directors and remuneration committees to support the design of executive remuneration systems. These principles – often expressed through phrases like ‘pay-for-performance’ and ‘competitive pay’ – are affirmative statements that influence remuneration decisions, and they act as a cornerstone guiding the design of executive remuneration. As a main cornerstone of this white paper, we collected data from remuneration reports by specifically searching for the keyword ‘principles’. When companies explicitly mention remuneration principles in their remuneration report, we compiled and manually categorised them into 10 distinct categories, resulting in a comprehensive taxonomy. Following the taxonomy’s development, we analyse the adoption of these principles and investigate various relationships. To conclude, we introduce a set of innovative examples.