经济学人319:高管薪酬 好运垂青老板

　　Business

商业报道

Paying chief executives

高管薪酬

Fortune favours the boss

好运垂青老板

Big, controversial golden goodbyes to bosses are probably here to stay

老板们巨额而有争议的黄金告别可能会被留下来

IS THE new boss of Time Warner Cable about to become one of the luckiest-ever winners of the great chief-executive pay lottery 1?

时代华纳有线电视公司的新老板会成为伟大的首席执行官中最幸运的赢家之一吗？

Robert Marcus is set to take over as boss on January 1st.

罗伯特·马库斯将于1月1日接任老板。

2_副本.jpgIf rumours 2 are to be believed, that will be just in time for the cable firm to be bought by one of a host of rivals that are now circling it.

如果传言是可信的，那恰好有线电视公司被环绕的竞争对手中的一位收购。

A change-of-control clause in his contract means he could go straight back out of the door with a golden goodbye of over $56m.

合同中的变更条款意味着他可以拥有超过5,600万元的黄金告别走出大门。

The biggest loser, in contrast, may be Philippe Varin, who will step down as boss of PSA Peugeot Citron, a struggling French carmaker.

相反，最大的输家可能是菲利普·瓦兰，他从一个苦苦挣扎的法国汽车制造商PSA标致雪铁龙老板的位置上下来。

On November 27th, he issued a statement saying he would give up a pension provision valued at 21m.

11月27日，他发表声明说，他将放弃价值2100万的养老金保障。

The board will decide his future pension arrangements before he retires, probably with an eye on public opinion.

董事会将在他退休前安排他未来的养老金，可能会顾及舆论的反应。

He follows in the footsteps of Fred Goodwin, who presided over the collapse 3 of Royal Bank of Scotland.

他步了弗雷德·古德温的后尘，其导致了苏格兰皇家银行的崩溃。

In 2009, again after a public outcry, the man known as Fred the Shred 4, because of his fondness for firing people, agreed to reduce his pension by 212,500 a year to a paltry 5 342,500.

在2009年舆论再次哗然，那个喜欢裁人的被称为弗雷德的同意将他的退休金的减少额从212500英镑一年增加到区区342500英镑。

It is rare for public disapproval 6 of generous golden goodbyes to have so much impact.

公众很少认为这些慷慨的黄金告别有这么大的影响。

Even the introduction of say on pay votes in countries such as America and Britain seems only to have curbed 7 the most egregious 8 excesses.

甚至在一些引进了薪酬话语权投票的国家如美国和英国似乎只能抑制最令人震惊的过激行为。

Ira Kay of Pay Governance, a consultant 9, says that in America, most company boards facing such votes have managed to win them by dropping overgenerous perks 10 like the automatic vesting of the boss's share options even when he has kept his job following a takeover.

薪酬管理顾问艾拉凯指出，在美国，面临着这样投票的公司的董事会已经设法通过清理过于慷慨的激励措施，如老板股票期权的自动归属权，甚至在被收购后还继续他的工作。

The once-widespread practice of paying a boss's taxes on his post-takeover payout, a nice little earner known as the excise 11 tax gross-up, has also ended, costing some chief executives millions of dollars, says Mr Kay.

凯先生说，在老板的税收上过往的做法是在他退休后支出，一个很好的被称为包税的赚钱者也结束了，花掉了首席执行官们数百万美金。

Bosses can no longer trigger big severance 12 payouts by self-termination—quitting or retiring—adds Doug Friske of Towers Watson, another pay consultant.

另一家薪酬顾问公司韬睿惠悦的道格Friske说，老板们以后不能靠通过自行终止-辞职或退休增加巨额的退休金。

Topping up the pension fund for a boss who leaves earlier than expected is now frowned on too.

为提前退休的老板补足养老基金现在也行不通了。

Say on pay has also forced boards to get better at costing perks that once were wrongly regarded as practically free.

薪酬话语权也迫使董事会在之前被认为是随意额外津贴上做的更好。

Yet the golden parachute is a chronic 13 problem that I don't see changing anytime soon, says Donald Hambrick, a management professor at Pennsylvania State University.

然而，金降落伞是一个老大难问题，我没看到最近会有什么变化，宾夕法尼亚州立大学管理学教授唐纳德·汉姆布瑞克说。

The procession of bosses exiting with fabulous 14 pay-offs continues.

老板们难以置信的离职金仍在继续进行。

Pay consultants 15 brought in by firms seeking a new boss often get blamed for regarding the most generous existing package in the market as the baseline for negotiations 16.

薪酬顾问为企业寻求新的老板常常会因为以市场最多的离职金为基准进行谈判而被责怪。

But there is also a small cottage industry of elite 17 lawyers who are used by any candidate to be boss, and who have mastered every trick in the book, Mr Hambrick says.

汉姆布瑞克先生说，也有一些曾是老板候选人的小企业中的精英律师，他们懂得书中的所有技巧。

By the time the public is frothing at the mouth about some fired corporate 18 failure walking off with a fortune, it is usually too late to do anything about it.

这时公众议论的是解雇失败损失的钱，而这通常是来不及做任何事情补救。

Everything is negotiated up front; that is the time to be outraged 19, he advises.

他建议一切都协商都进行在前面，这是被激怒的时候。

Once a boss has failed and pulled the cord on his golden parachute, boards typically conclude that it is best just to pay up quietly.

一旦老板已经失败并且拉着他的黄金降落伞的绳子，董事会一般认为最好是默默的把钱付了。

Even though recent legal changes have made it easier, even in America, to claw back some of the money paid to failed bosses, in practice firms will only try to do that if there is cast-iron evidence of fault, such as a financial misstatement.

即使在美国，尽管最近的法律变化使得更容易夺回部分支付给失败老板的钱，在实践中如果证据确凿公司将尝试这样做，如财务失实。

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the myopic 20 ways boards tend to work in practice.

董事会在实践中的目光短浅对所有的人来说这一切都不应该是一件惊讶的事。

The moment when a company is paying off a failure is also the moment it is trying to attract the best possible candidate to sort out the mess.

当一个公司为失败付钱的那一刻也是它正试图吸引尽可能最好的人选来收拾烂摊子。

Contesting the last boss's deal could easily scare off the ideal new one.

争辩最后老板的这笔交易很容易吓跑新的理想人选。

The CEO wheel of fortune keeps on turning.

CEO的命运之轮仍在不断向前。

1.take over 接管

The Belgians took over Rwanda under a League of Nations mandate 21.

比利时人依照国际联盟的授权接管了卢旺达。

The parliament in Madrid was taken over by civil guards.

马德里议会大厦被国民警卫队接管了。

2.step down 下台

The governor has rejected all calls to step down.

这位州长拒绝了所有要求他下台的呼声。

The constitution says she must step down next year.

根据宪法规定，她将于明年下台。

3.give up 放弃；投降

But some mountaineers do not give up.

但是一些登山家并没有放弃。

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up.

这仿佛给他捎来飞鸿，让他不要放弃这一切。

4.agree to 同意， 赞成

He could agree to cut nuclear arms with russia.

他可能同意和俄罗斯一起削减核武器。

She convinced a reluctant union to agree to a pay-for-performance system.

她说服了一个不情愿的工会接受绩效工资系统。