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Total pay for Washington’s highest-earning executives rose nearly 7 percent last year as compensation packages benefited from healthy gains in share prices. Analysts say the benefit of a roaring stock market has been two-fold for Washington leaders. Executives are increasingly being judged on the performance of their company’s share price (as opposed to metrics such as revenue or income, which were often used in the past), and they are receiving more of their compensation in stocks and options.
“Performance-share plans are on the rise,” said Jannice Koors, managing director at Pearl Meyer & Partners, a New York-based executive compensation consulting firm. “As companies have good years, you start to see some really big numbers.”