2021年经济学人 疫情重创之下的美国CEO薪资飙升,那你呢?(4)（在线收听）

Yet their protest votes on pay remain relatively few, they are non-binding, and the number of pay recalibrations last year were unusually high, suggesting their fury on the issue may yet cool. Say-on-pay censure alone will not end America’s fat-cat era.

然而，薪酬问题上的抗议投票仍然相对较少，没有约束力，而且去年薪酬调整异常频繁，这表明他们在这个问题上的愤怒可能还没有平息。仅仅谴责薪酬决定权并不能终结美国的肥猫时代。

It is hard to imagine what will. Many shareholders instinctively cringe at the thought of taxation and pay caps, an option floated by left-wing Democrats. Yet their own collective efforts to modify the system are also feeble. Calls to lengthen the period executives hold shares to, say, five or ten years have so far gone nowhere. Efforts to stop boards benchmarking CEOs against lavishly paid members of peer-group companies have also flopped.

难以想象接下来将发生什么。许多股东一想到左翼民主党提出的税收和工资上限就本能地恐惧。但他们在修改制度上的共同努力也微不足道。要求将高管持股期限延长至5年或10年的呼声迄今毫无进展。阻止董事会将首席执行官与同行公司的高薪成员进行对标的努力也失败了。

It is quite likely, in fact, that shareholders will focus less on pay in coming years as they prioritise even more emotive issues, such as gender and racial diversity among firms they invest in, as well as climate change. By 2022 environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals are expected to be part of many more CEO pay schemes, especially as the credo grows of maximising value not just for shareholders, but for stakeholders. In the long term, these may help improve stock market returns. But in the short run the risk is that, while oversight is lax, some boards will use ESG criteria to distract attention from poor financial performance. One day the world may have cause to cheer the impact of a greater focus on sustainability. But in the meantime some CEOs will no doubt use it as a new way of feathering their own nests.

事实上，在未来几年，股东们很可能会减少对薪酬的关注，因为他们将优先考虑更具感情色彩的问题，例如投资公司员工的性别和种族多样性，以及气候变化。到2022年，环境、社会和治理（ESG）目标有望成为更多CEO薪酬计划的一部分，尤其是当信条不仅对股东，而且对利益相关者而言，价值最大化的时候。从长期来看，这些可能有助于提高股市回报。但短期来看，风险在于，虽然监管松懈，一些董事会将利用ESG标准分散对不良财务业绩的注意力。总有一天，世界有理由为更加注重可持续性的影响而欢呼。但与此同时，一些CEO们无疑会将其作为充实自己薪酬的新方式。