In my last post I wrote about how Costco treats its employees better than their competitors, get huge profits as a result – and catch flack for it from stock analysts who want them to spend less money on their people. Go figure.
So here’s a good question… considering that Costco spends 40% more on their employees than their closest competition, how well is Costco CEO Sinegal himself paid?
Despite Costco’s impressive record, Mr. Sinegal’s salary is just $350,000, although he also received a $200,000 bonus last year. That puts him at less than 10 percent of many other chief executives, though Costco ranks 29th in revenue among all American companies.
“I’ve been very well rewarded,” said Mr. Sinegal, who is worth more than $150 million thanks to his Costco stock holdings. “I just think that if you’re going to try to run an organization that’s very cost-conscious, then you can’t have those disparities. Having an individual who is making 100 or 200 or 300 times more than the average person working on the floor is wrong.”
So here’s a company that pays its employees more than average – and its CEO waaaay less. I like it!
This also contributes to making people happy at work. While I always say that money can’t make us happy at work, a salary that’s too low or blatantly unfair (say one that is 200 times smaller than the CEO’s) can definitely make us unhappy.
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