High cost of pay divide
The huge pay gap in Britain’s companies is highlighted in a High Pay Centre report.
The high cost of high pay says that in 1997 the pay ratio for top companies was 47:1 for the bosses of the top 100 companies. However, the ratio has rocketed and a chief executive of a FTSE100 firm now takes home 133 times the average worker at those companies. At the sharp end of the divide, some employees at the UK’s biggest companies are unable to make ends meet and have to rely on government tax credits and other benefits.
The report, which also surveyed almost 2000 workplaces, reveals that workplaces with big pay differentials suffer more industrial disputes, more sickness and higher staff turnover than employers with more equitable pay differentials.