Director pay, hours on rise

Directors were celebrating pay rises in excess of inflation in the past year, yet the Institute of Directors (IoD) believes the pay rises should have been higher.

The IoD-EY survey of directors’ working lives indicated that a sharp rise in the number of hours directors were working had decreased their hourly pay rates.

The survey, published in the IoDEY Directors’ Fees Report, covered 2158 directorships, across 1546 organisations ranging from huge listed companies to much smaller non-profit trusts and charities.

IoD chief executive Kirsten Patterson said: ‘‘Time spent by directors on board matters has increased from 106 hours a year in 2017 to 127 hours in 2018. This is up from 88 hours in 2014.’’

A growing body of regulatory requirements was driving the rise in hours worked, she said, as were risks such as cyber security.

Median director fees rose 2.3 per cent, from $44,000 to $45,000 in the past year, compared with a 1.5 per cent rise in inflation as measured by the consumer price index.

Executive chairs of boards saw the median fee rise by 6.7 per cent ($37,955 to $40,500), though executive directors would also be receiving pay for their executive positions within their organisations.

Non-executive chairs of boards, who get higher fees than executive directors, saw their pay increase by 2.7 per cent ($55,000 to $56,500).

The average fee paid to directors of non-profit organisations had not moved, while the biggest director fee rises were in the real estate sector.