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Comment by chii | Hacker News Reader

Working harder doesn't mean you get paid more.

The ceo being paid a lot doesn't imply they have to have worked harder to obtain it.

The board determined the ceo pay , and the board represent the shareholders, who ultimately are the final arbiters of the value being generated by the ceo.

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Most boards I've looked at are composed of people with C-level titles. While members of the board might not have a direct conflict of interest for a particular CEO, most have an interest in normalizing extreme CEO salaries.

Let's be honest; most CEOs work smarter and lead these large companies to immense profitability. They, as leaders, are entitled to (in essence) a commission - a reward for the work they've done, the leadership, the right decisions, and pivoting necessary to realize opportunities. The "worker" doesn't and in many cases, can not do any of what I described. They are paid for a job at a fair market rate. To compare the two is to do two things. 1) display a willing ignorance of the dynamics and 2) telegraph a tired political whine.

> and the board represent the shareholders

The board represents only some shareholders.

And the board often delegates compensation decisions to a third party. Said third party is incentivized to rationalize a higher compensation for the executive class, because that best ensures that they’ll be hired to do so again in the future.

And the auditors are paid by the company that they audit.. For risk of material misstatement, not fraud. A fraudulent company can still pay an auditor a significant sum, and the auditor won't look for fraud, only material misstatement. It's the "audit expectations gap."

Yeah friend worked for an executive compensation firm for a while. It was all about justifying increasing the CEO's compensation to match what other companies were paying. There is also the problem of the incestuous you scratch my back I scratch yours nature of board membership.

> justifying increasing the CEO's compensation to match what other companies were paying.

which is what market rate means right? If a good CEO is poached to a competitor, the company will lose out.

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