Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsExecutive payPay & benefitsTrade unions

High Pay Day comes early in 2023 as top leaders hit the £33k mark

by Adam McCulloch 5 Jan 2023
by Adam McCulloch 5 Jan 2023 Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock

The leaders of some of the UK’s most prominent companies will have today earned more than the average worker will this year (Thursday, 5 January).

Research by the High Pay Centre shows that at 2pm today FTSE 100 company chief executives will have already earned an average of £33,000 in 2023 – the same as the median salary for a UK worker. The data is based on figures from last year, taken from the Office for National Statistics and the financial reports of publicly listed companies.

The TUC has responded by urging pay committees to restore common sense to remuneration awards.

FTSE 100 chief executives have seen their salaries rise by 39% over the past year, easily offsetting increases in the cost of living. Meanwhile, the average worker has seen their pay rise by 6% over the same period.

Last year, High Pay Day arrived at 9am on 7 January.

“In the worst economic circumstances that most people can remember, it is difficult to believe that a handful of top earners are still raking in such extraordinary amounts of money,” High Pay Centre director Luke Hildyard said.

“The UK economy really cannot afford for such a big share of the wealth that is created by all workers to be captured by such a tiny number of people at the top.

“To address declining living standards for the majority, we need measures to balance the distribution of incomes more evenly.”

Executive pay rises

Executives should get below-inflation pay rises, say investors

Pay gap between CEOs and employees set to widen in 2022

Survey reveals public desire for CEO pay restraint

Sheila Attwood, senior content manager, data and HR insights at Cendex, part of XpertHR, said that employers needed to acknowledge the effect of High Pay Day on employees.

She said: “With the cost-of-living crisis looming and other economic pressures hitting home, it is not surprising that the campaign for fairer pay is gaining momentum – expatiated further by the coverage of High Pay Day. Employers can really help their recruitment and retention efforts by ensuring that employees feel valued in light of data such as this. The simplest way for employers to be certain they are paying staff fairly is to benchmark salaries against competitors, regularly reviewing their offering to check it aligns with the current market.

“What is crucial, too, is transparency. Employers will benefit from being upfront with how pay levels are calculated, clearly communicating to staff how salary bands are devised and how potential earnings are achieved.

“During economically challenging times such as these, employers should consider how else they can support staff, whether that be a one-off payment, a zero-interest loan or an additional salary review.”

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said ministers should intervene to “bring back some fairness on pay” because many lower-paid workers were struggling.

“Everyone deserves a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. But while working people are told not to ask for more, top pay is soaring,” he said. “We need government action to bring back some fairness on pay. Workers should have seats on executive pay committees to bring some common sense to top pay. And ministers must set out plans for fair pay for everyone, starting by agreeing to pay negotiations in the public sector.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB union, said: “A hard-up 999 call handler would have to work for 150 years to earn what a CEO boss trousers in just 12 months. It’s an utter disgrace.”

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more human resources jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Amazon faces first UK strike as it plans 18,000 global job cuts
next post
CPD activities: methods for engaging occupational health learning

You may also like

Legislation could block bonuses at Thames Water

16 May 2025

Lloyds scales back diversity targets for employee bonuses

11 Mar 2025

Barclays and NatWest remove climate targets from bonus...

18 Feb 2025

Barclays doubles CEO pay and awards shares to...

13 Feb 2025

CEO’s 2025 pay overtook average salary on 6...

6 Jan 2025

Executive pay plans in Europe increasingly linked to...

16 Dec 2024

UK workers support caps on executive pay

25 Nov 2024

How inclusive pay practices can support diverse talent

20 Nov 2024

FTSE 100 gender pay gap remains stubbornly high

18 Nov 2024

Nissan slashes 9,000 jobs globally and halves CEO’s...

7 Nov 2024

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+