In the least surprising announcement of the week, we find that CEO bonuses are up again. Our favorite line in this Agenda piece is this one: “Compensation committees allowed for wide berth in setting incentive goals due to uncertainty related to the pandemic.” Translation: why should pay be tied to performance when the world is so unpredictable? Or as the beggar says in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “So you had a bad week. Why should I suffer?”

CEOs and other top executives at early proxy filers saw robust increases in variable pay last year, according to a study published this month by Compensation Advisory Partners that looked at 50 companies with fiscal years ending between August and October 2021.

Compensation committees allowed for wide berth in setting incentive goals due to uncertainty related to the pandemic, and when financial performance in 2021 surpassed expectations, so did annual incentive payouts, according to Lauren Peek, a principal at CAP.

Agenda – ‘Big Bounce Back’ in Raises for CEOs Seen in Early Proxies