FTSE 100 chief executives will have earned more money by 11.30am on Tuesday 6 January than the average UK worker will make in the entire year, according to analysis by the High Pay Centre. The thinktank calculated that median annual pay for FTSE 100 bosses is £4.4m, 113 times the £39,039 earned by the median full-time worker.
This means the average FTSE 100 CEO surpasses the annual salary of a typical employee in under 29 hours, assuming they started work on Friday 2 January. The median hourly rate for these executives is £1,353.23, or nearly £23 per minute, based on a 62.5-hour working week.
Last year, the highest-paid FTSE 100 bosses were Peter Dilnot and Simon Peckham of Melrose Industries, who together earned nearly £59m, largely from long-term incentive plans. Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, previously the top earner for two years, came third with £14.7m.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, criticised the disparity, saying: 'While millions of low- and middle-income workers are still struggling with the cost of living, those at the very top keep helping themselves to a huge slice of the pie.' He urged the government to give workers a seat on executive pay committees.
The High Pay Centre noted that declining union membership has widened the pay gap. In December, the Labour government passed the Employment Rights Act, which grants unions reasonable access to workers and requires employers to inform new staff of their right to join a union.
Andrew Speke, interim director at the High Pay Centre, said: 'The idea that executives, as a class, are individually contributing over 100 times more in value than the workers they rely on is simply not credible.' He called for bolder corporate governance reform, including democratic worker representation on boards, and higher taxes on excessive executive pay to fund education and social mobility.
