They still have lower basic salaries. However, including bonuses, women CEOs at the stock exchange earn higher total compensation than their male counterparts, a review shows.
For the tenth year in a row, Allshare (formerly Novare Pay) has compiled the salaries and compensation of CEOs and board members of all listed companies.
The average salary for a stock exchange CEO was 4.4 million kronor last year, calculated on the median salary. This was an increase of 4.7 percent compared to 2022, compared to an increase of 4.1 percent for other wage earners, according to the collective agreement.
CEOs' salaries tend to increase about twice as much, but have now, like wage earners further down the ladder, received real salary cuts for the second year in a row.
However, the executive directors also receive bonuses in various forms, and then the total compensation in 2023 was 7.3 million kronor, up 5.4 percent, based on the companies' annual reports.
And since the bonus is based on the basic salary, the effect is doubled. In kronor, the bonuses have never been so high, according to Erika Andersson.
And it is the female CEOs who are the real bonus queens. Despite their basic salaries being about 5 percent lower than men's, women's total compensation is 2 percent higher – they receive higher bonuses.
The female CEOs make up only 12 percent of the total number of top executives. So, statistically, it may be possible to see some irregularities.
Why women receive higher bonuses is difficult to know for certain. But in the statistics, it appears that women have achieved higher performance in relation to maximum possible variable compensation. They received an average of 51.7 percent, while men received 45.8 percent.
The basic salary for a stock exchange CEO in 2023 was 4.4 million kronor (median).
The total compensation for CEO 2023 was 7.3 million kronor (median).
The basic salary increased by 4.7 percent and total compensation by 5.4 percent for CEOs employed in both 2022 and 2023 (median).
On average, 38.8 percent of the total compensation package for CEOs consists of short- and long-term variable pay.
The board chairman's remuneration is 705,000 kronor, and increased by 4.8 percent (2024, median).
The proportion of women on the CEO post has increased from 11.7 percent to 12.4 percent.
The proportion of women on the board chairman post has increased from 10.2 percent to 11.0 percent, while the proportion of women in the boards has decreased from 36.1 to 35.0 percent.
Source: Allshare, listed companies' annual reports and notices of annual general meetings.
