Press Release

Results of 2020 ESOP Executive Compensation Survey Now Available for Purchase

Issued by National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO]

Apr. 26, 2021

The NCEO has conducted compensation surveys of ESOP companies since 2005. Our 2020 survey received responses from 424 ESOP companies. The survey report includes detailed compensation data for eight top executive positions, including base, incentive, stock-based, and deferred compensation.  Data is presented across multiple demographic categories including revenue, selected industries, employee count, and ESOP ownership percentage. It also reports information on how COVID-19 is affecting compensation. 

Sample compensation tables from the report are available here.

Please contact Research Director Nancy Wiefek at nwiefek@nceo.org for any questions or assistance.

Survey Details

This survey, conducted between September and November 2020, collected a total of 424 responses from a diverse group of ESOP companies (the largest in the survey's history). The survey gathered compensation data for each of the following eight executive positions:

• CEO or president
• CFO or top financial executive
• COO
• Chief information officer
• Top divisional vice president
• Top human resources or personnel professional
• Top sales or marketing executive
• Vice president of services/region/geographic area

Contents of the Survey Report

The report includes:

• Descriptive demographic information about the respondents
• Tables of compensation at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles for each of eight executive positions, separated by base pay, cash incentives, stock-based compensation, and total pay
• Contributions to executives' individual ESOP accounts and other retirement plan accounts, by percentile
• Total company ESOP contributions as a percentage of eligible payroll

This information is presented for both the overall survey sample and as breakouts for each of the following company characteristics:

• Revenue
• Number of employees
• Percent ESOP ownership
• Age of ESOP
• S corporations and C corporations
• Industry:
  • Construction
  • Manufacturing
  • Professional, scientific, and technical services

The report also contains data on COVID-19's effects on executive compensation, including executive pay reductions, freezes, and changes to bonus and LTIP compensation.

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