In the time it takes to read this article, Australia’s highest-paid chief executives will earn hundreds of dollars. An average worker would make around one dollar.
While many executives took pay cuts at the peak of pandemic lockdowns, there’s been little restraint in the years since, even as cost-of-living pressures weigh on their employees.
Chief executive pay increased strongly in 2023-24, an analysis of remuneration reports shows, with many executives receiving double-digit rises in their pay packets.
Meanwhile, average weekly earnings increased by just 4.6% over the financial year.
Guardian Australia used published CEO pay to assess how much more the heads of Australia’s best-known companies earn than regular workers, from baristas to barbers.
Macquarie Group’s chief executive, Shemara Wikramanayake, earned $29.4m last financial year, a modest drop from the prior period but still an extraordinary sum even by executive standards.
Wikramanayake made 294 times the average-earning Australian in 2023-24, according to Guardian Australia’s analysis.
As a global investment bank, Macquarie is a performance-obsessed company that rewards executives who drive profits, which means divisional heads often make more than the CEOs of well-known Australian companies.
Last year, several Macquarie executives earned more than $10m, according to statutory remuneration tables included in its annual report.
The statutory figures include base pay, as well as the accumulating short- and long-term incentives and various bonuses.
The ASX 200 had a robust year, rising almost 8% in 2023-24, led by the technology and financial sectors, which helped inflate the value of incentives and bonuses.
Insurers profited during a period of rising premiums, which helped Nick Hawkins, the chief executive of Australia’s largest general insurer, IAG, record a 78% increase in statutory pay to $5.23m.
Frank Calabria, the head of the electricity retailer Origin Energy, earned $6.7m, up 13.5% on the prior year, in a period marked by steep rises in electricity prices for consumers.
The chief executive of Coles, Leah Weckert, earned $4.7m in 2023-24 in her first full year heading the major supermarket chain. This was up from $3.3m the previous year, but well below the $10m-plus pay packets that her predecessor, Steven Cain, earned at the end of his tenure.
Chief executives in Australia’s largest companies take home on average 50 times the pay package of a typical worker, according to an analysis from the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).
In the early 1990s, top bosses earned about 17 times average earnings.
Ed John, the executive manager of stewardship at ACSI, said short-term bonuses can be too easy to obtain and that boards need to ensure incentives reflect strong long-term performance.
“It’s important that boards and investors don’t become too cyclical,” said John, referring to bonuses that get paid when a company’s shares rise in line with the broader market.
“They need to make sure that strategies are being delivered beyond just share price up or share price down.
“Are targets actually being met, and how are they being met?”
Australia’s highest-earning chief executives earn tens of thousands of dollars in the eight or so hours it takes to read an average-length book.
But rest assured, there’s always someone who earns more.
Tesla shareholders recently approved a $US45bn ($66bn) pay deal for chief executive Elon Musk.
