Australian Employees Say Bosses are Overpaid and Underworked
Workers in Australia have delivered their bosses a broadside, saying that senior executives are paid too much, don’t understand what their employees do and couldn’t perform the job themselves.
The survey shows a high level of concern amongst the workforce over senior executive remuneration and performance. Many workers believe they actually work harder than their bosses and say they receive the level of motivation necessary to do a better job and increase productivity.
Amongst the key findings of the survey:
- 33% of respondents say that senior executives are paid too much
- 24% say they think they work harder than their boss
- 23% say their boss does not understand what they do day-to-day
- 25% say their boss could not do their job
- 27% say that they do not receive the motivation from their bosses to do a better job and raise productivity
The findings reveal a deep sense of dismay about the performance of senior executive ranks and disquiet at the rewards they receive. Employees sense that many in senior executive roles are not performing to the standards expected and may not be offering the level of support and mentoring that is required to properly motivate staff.
There is an issue in how effectively executive salaries are aligned with executive performance. Employees look at some senior executive remuneration packages and often can’t understand how they fit with corporate performance.
The survey suggests that even before the recent global financial crisis, which shed new light on executive remuneration, employees were signaling that they were unimpressed with the way that many bosses were performing and rewarded.
The most overpaid business executives, in the eyes of employees, were in Turkey, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Netherlands and the United States. Australia ranked 21st on the list of 33 countries.
The level of understanding about what many senior executives actually do is a source of confusion amongst the workforce.
When Australian employees were asked whether they worked harder than their boss, 24% said ‘Yes’, 47% said ‘No, we work equally hard’, and 17% said they were unsure. Only 12% of employees believed that their bosses worked harder than they did.
The concern about the level of salary paid to senior executives was most pronounced amongst older workers and males.
While only 27% of those aged 20-24 felt bosses were overpaid, the proportion rises to 44% for those aged 55 and above.
When it comes to motivation by senior executives, younger workers appear to receive more attention with 64% of 20-24 year olds saying they do receive adequate motivation. However this falls to 55% of those aged 35-44 and 53% for those aged 55 and older.
The survey’s findings suggest an increasingly sceptical view on the part of the workforce about the way remuneration decisions are taken by senior managers and directors.
The recent global financial turmoil has hastened calls for more transparent and accountable processes for senior executive remuneration in which pay is more closely aligned to performance.
