Designing Effective Annual Incentive Plans
At Zayla, we believe variable pay programs are essential tools for aligning a portion of employee compensation with organizational and individual performance. When thoughtfully structured, they help to motivate employees, drive business results, and retain top talent by linking pay to near-term performance outcomes. This is why understanding the key components and market best practices […]
Navigating Tariffs, Economic Uncertainty, and Market Volatility in 2025
Avoiding Compensation Whiplash in 2025 In today’s volatile market, businesses are grappling with unprecedented challenges that are affecting businesses at nearly every level – including one of the largest company investments and expenses: compensation. From tariffs and geopolitical risks to labor market shifts, inflation, and stock market volatility, companies are experiencing what can be termed […]
2025 Energy CEO Compensation Trends
Zayla recently conducted a preliminary analysis of energy industry proxy disclosures from the early stages of the 2025 proxy season. Below is an overview of initial trends noted. Please check back later for expanded analyses on executive compensation trends in the energy industry. Sample Group Characteristics Zayla reviewed compensation disclosures from 24 companies that have […]
Telling the Compensation Story Through Reported and Realizable Executive Compensation
Executive compensation is a hot topic in the corporate governance world. The discussion and evaluation of the fairness of executive pay practices has ramped up considerably since the arrival of Dodd-Frank, evolving as investor expectations and disclosure trends among public issuers have changed. Last year, the SEC finalized disclosure rules on how companies should communicate […]
CEO to NEO Pay Index Matters
When we conducted a three year (2019 – 2022) pay and performance comparison of the top ~2,000 public companies (by market cap), we found CEO pay that was too far removed from the other named executive officers (NEOs) resulted in an inefficient relationship between the amount of compensation delivered and shareholder return generated. Specifically, companies […]
Solving Compensation Whiplash
Compensation Whiplash ™ – the movement of compensation up and/or down so rapidly it gives you a headache. The recent labor market has hit HR/Compensation departments with a nasty concoction of variables – unprecedented labor market volatility, commodity price swings, hyperinflation, the great resignation, silent resignations, remote work, DEI, and 5 generations working together at […]
2023 Energy Company First Filers Analysis
It was a great year!
Long-Term Incentive Plans in Private Companies
For the past 16 years, long-term incentives (LTI) in private companies have significantly increased. According to WorldatWork, the prevalence of LTIs in private companies increased from 35% in 2007 to 62% in 2019. Given the current hyper-competitive market combined with volatile macro conditions of 2023 and beyond, the majority of private companies in every US […]
Incentive Plan Decision Making
While Pay versus performance disclosures will headline most executive pay stories, the real cruxt of the matter is designing pay + performance programs. Many public, private and not for profit company boards and management are asking how to set pay for stretch and who should design the incentive plan mechanics. We provide simple guiding principles. […]
SEC’s Pay Versus Performance – 2023 Early Impressions
SEC’s Pay Versus Performance – 2023 Early Impressions As we head into March and the start of proxy season, the SEC’s newly required Pay Versus Performance disclosures are front of mind for many that deal with compensation and corporate governance. The Commission just recently released some *timely* clarifications on their rules, called Compliance & Disclosure […]