"Tell me down to what salary level are you putting pictures of executives in the paper," one manager of a public company asked us this week with undisguised fear.
If in the past managers were competing to see who earned more (on the assumption that this was an index indicating who was more talented), today in the era of the social justice protests, there is no great pride in being a top earner. When the public is struggling to cope with price hikes in electricity, gasoline and food, it is not so pleasant that everyone knows that you are earning so many millions.
Much has been written in the past about the contribution of the salary tables that "Globes" began 18 years ago. This year for the first time we have felt a certain change. Companies and executives have found it important to find various solutions for reducing salary costs, either through creative accountancy, donations, or relinquishing some income or benefits.
But still, at the end of the day, the numbers are astounding. Give yourself an eyeful of the list of the 20 highest earners who together raked in NIS 250 million in 2011. Some of them are indeed talented and led their companies to impressive achievements. But they are only 20 people and however talented they may be are they worth such a sum? It seems to us that the answer is clear.
In all fairness, we should say that after peeling away options (that are in many instances outside of money), and deducting tax, very few senior executives became multimillionaires over the past few years. We are talking about a thin layer of people like Akiva Mozes, Eli Yones, Erez Vigodman, Galia Maor and Nir Gilad who accumulated tens of millions of shekels and even more.
Most senior executives in public companies take home between NIS 50-100,000 net a month, which is not a bad amount at all, and even quite excellent, but for sure it does not justify the greedy image given to them.
When all is said and done, the issue of senior executives salaries is a social problem. How is an employee who earns NIS 7,000 per month supposed to feel when he is choking over incessant price rises while his boss is earning sums that are almost inconceivable to him. And perhaps in the future there will be graver repercussions than grimaces and malicious sniggers.
In any event at the macroeconomic level, transforming a small number of managers into multimillionaires has virtually zero impact.
Top five salary costs in 2011:
David Azrieli, chairman Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG): NIS 21.1 million.
Nir Gilad, CEO Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO): NIS 21.1 million.
Akiva Mozes, CEO Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL): NIS 16.3 million.
Amir Elstein, chairman Israel Corporation: NIS 15 million.
Stella Handler, chair HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT): NIS 14.8 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 29, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012