big bosses earned less in 2022, but the gap is widening with their employees

In 2022, the salaries of CAC 40 managers fell by 15% compared to 2021. However, looking more closely at the report published Tuesday by the Proxinvest firm, they still earn much more than their employees.

The salaries of big bosses are still doing just as well. The shareholder advisory firm Proxinvest unveiled its 2022 compensation ranking on Tuesday, November 21. It turns out that on average, a CAC 40 boss earned 6.7 million euros last year, which therefore means say that some are far above.

The best paid executives, however, are not the ones who make the headlines. Bernard Charlès, the boss of Dassault Systèmes, tops the ranking with 33 million euros earned. He is followed by Daniel Julien, from Téléperformance, with 19.7 million. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, comes third with 19.6 million, much less than in 2021. The boss of the automobile group received the record sum of 66.7 million euros two years ago, according to the Proxinvest calculations.

The Tavares case changes the situation

The remuneration of CAC 40 bosses has fallen significantly compared to 2021, by 15%. This drop amounts to 6% if we take into account the SBF120, the 120 largest companies in the country. Despite everything, this is only due to the case of Carlos Tavares, who did not receive an exceptional award this time. If we take 2019 as a benchmark, before the Covid pandemic, it appears that the average remuneration of a CAC 40 boss is up 29%, and 14% if we take into account the bosses of the SBF120.

Bosses’ salaries are therefore increasing, and those of their employees as well, but not as quickly according to the Proxinvest firm. He calculated what he calls “social cohesion”, that is to say the gap between the remuneration of the manager and that of his employees. Between 2014 and 2022, the boss’s remuneration increased by 62%, compared to 31% for employees. This means that bosses’ salaries have increased twice as fast.