Record boss and worker pay gap

THE pay gap between workers and bosses is running at a record high this year, research shows.

Pay ratios, which compare chief executives to average employees, fell during the pandemic when bosses took salary cuts and scrapped bonuses.

But think-tank the High Pay Centre shows of the 69 companies to report this year, the average pay ratio was almost twice as big as a year earlier. The research comes amid shareholder rebellions at executive pay.

The High Pay Centre said pay cuts during Covid meant the average FTsE 350 chief executive was paid 44 times as much as their average employee last year – down from a record 53 the previous year. But the figure for companies reporting this year is now at a new high of 63.

The think-tank’s director luke Hildyard said: ‘Employers have a key role balancing their pay awards so that high, middle and low earners are paid fairly and proportionately.’