Management Programmes in Human Resource Management

Vlerick expertise in Human Resource Management

1. Link between salary and seniority should be time-limited

   The wage pressure in Belgium, i.e. the salary tension between younger and older employees, is one of the highest in Europe. On average, 55-year-old employees earn 45% more than their 30-year-old colleagues doing the same job. Furthermore, we are living longer so our working lives are also longer. Consequently, a new wage structure is required, based on a mix of experience, performance and flexible rewards. That is what Professor Xavier Baeten, researcher Saïd Loyens (Vlerick Business School) and Bert De Greve (Hudson) propose in a white paper that offers a fresh perspective on the future house of rewards.

2. The best performing companies pay their CEOs relatively less

   Between 2014 and 2016, over 70% of the CEOs of Bel 20 and Bel Mid companies received a salary increase compared to a mere 46% in the smaller listed companies. The increase was the largest in the Bel 20 companies and was mainly due to variable remuneration. When the actual market data, the size, sector and profitability are taken into account, the German and English CEOs are overpaid. In stark contrast to that is the conclusion that CEOs in the best performing companies are paid relatively less and that the so-called pay ratio (the ratio of the remuneration for the CEO and the average employee) is also considerably lower in these companies.