Latest Insights & Industry Trends

It has been decades since Americans have experienced record high inflation. Macroeconomic conditions, monetary policy, and a long list of other factors have caused inflation to rise around 8.6% over the last 12 months, and the consensus is inflation will continue to trend...

Compensation for a Multigenerational Workforce Employers are currently facing challenges on all levels. Among them are human capital concerns regarding attraction and retention, and their direct link to compensation and the total rewards landscape. Today's workforce is...

New Focus on Executive Pay for Performance Executive compensation and pay for performance have always been a hot topic, but the SEC's recent reopening for comments on its pay versus performance rule has put renewed focus on this highly debated issue. A push from the SEC...

Combating the Great Resignation The Great Resignation continues to exacerbate workforce concerns with no end in sight. As more and more companies struggle with retaining and attracting needed talent, it has become critical to dive into the root causes of this phenomenon...

The employment market reflects drastic changes following the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 4.4 million workers left their jobs in September of this year with no indication of slowing. The old-school model of employee loyalty to a firm has been...

As we near the end of the year, companies are starting to plan their compensation strategy for 2022. A topic that is top of mind is the higher rate of inflation we are experiencing and how cost-of-living salary adjustments will be affected in the coming year. Research shows...

Companies often ask us, “What are we not doing that we should think about as it relates to executive compensation?” We recognize the executive compensation environment is continually heating up with pressure from just about every angle, and as a result, the answers to...

Dear All, Spring is around the corner and proxy season is in full swing! Here at NFPCCmp;A we are off to a great start this year, staying busy helping our public clients with proxy and CD&A disclosures. Our survey specialists have also been hard at work preparing for our...

Dear All, It’s hard to believe 2018 is quickly coming to an end. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2019! We at NFPCCmp;A are very grateful for another great year and for all of you. We look forward to the new challenges and opportunities the...

Dear All,  It’s hard to believe the holidays are around the corner and soon we will be gathering with family and friends to celebrate and wrap up 2018! Here at NFPCCmp;A are excited to celebrate Thanksgiving, one of our favorite holidays, and are grateful for all of you and...

Introduction We are now in the 8th year of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”). Among other things, the implementation of Dodd-Frank meant the majority of public issuers had to learn to navigate the waters of shareholder advisory...

Our Chairman & CEO, Brent Longnecker, was recently quoted in a Houston Business Journal article  by Joshua Mann entitled, "Former Enterprise Products CFO Nabs $4.8 Million in Severance...

Dear All, Just like that, summer break has come and gone and school is back in session! As we gear up for the busy fall season we took a moment to evaluate our goals as well as our team members. We are excited to announce another round of promotions within our NFPCCmp;A staff!...

Is gender pay equity gap as big of an issue in 2018 as it has been in previous years? We are all told that gender pay equity is measured on the same scale, but in reality the gap virtually disappears when analyzing the same level, company, and function. Most articles cite “The...

Dear All, We hope you are staying cool and enjoying vacations with your families. The start of school is around the corner and just like the kids, we too are gearing up for the busy fall season.   In this edition of the L-Blast we have some great articles to share with you...

Over the past eighteen months, discussions on incentive compensation structures have been taking on a different element at a rapid clip in boardrooms across the country – as a result of investor pressures in the energy industry, annual incentive and long-term incentive...

Longnecker & Associates’ Chairman and CEO, Brent Longnecker, presented “20/20 Compensation: The Vision for Future Compensation Trends” this year at HR Houston’s Gulf Symposium, in which he shared our take on future compensation trends and top predictions for...

Longnecker & Associate provides the salary data for the Dallas Business Journal’s annual analysis on the highest-paid public company CEOs in North Texas. Click here to read the full...

NFPCCmp;A's President, Chris Crawford, was recently quoted in a Bloomberg article by Liam Denning entitled, "A Tiny Gas Firm's Big Lesson on Bosses' Pay." Denning explains how Comstock Resources exemplifies the skewed incentives in the E&P...

Dear All, Summer is around the corner as another school year comes to an end and with it the first proxy season requiring CEO pay ratios. As I mentioned in a recent HBJ article, the really interesting use for the pay ratio will come in three to five years, when a given company...

Non Performance-Based Compensation Factors & Why they Matter Too Add together the volatile ingredients of egregious CEO pay articles, gender pay gaps, say-on-pay votes, CEO pay ratio legislation, media bias, market volatility, compensation lawsuits, collegiate athlete pay...

Dear All, Spring is finally here and with it the first CEO Pay Ratio disclosures of 2018! Although we are still in the early stages of proxy season, we are already seeing eye-catching data for the newly required pay ratio disclosure. It will be interesting to see how this...

Dear All, We are well into the start of the new year and although 2018 has greeted us with some extremely cold temperatures that paralyzed our city for a couple of days, we at NFPCCmp;A have hit the ground running and are gearing up for proxy season. In this first L-Blast of...

We would like to share this article written by Dina Gerdeman featured on Harvard Business School's website entitled, "If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer." Researcher Ethan Rouen discovers that rank-and-file employees understand...

Longnecker & Associates Releases Results for Its Annual Energy Pay Pulse Survey Consulting Firm Closes Proprietary Energy Compensation Survey HOUSTON – January 17, 2018 – Longnecker & Associates, a strategic compensation and corporate governance consulting firm...

As we all know, both the House of Representatives and Senate voted to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act legislation and sent it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the President’s signature. While it will take more time for the country’s citizens and corporate world alike to truly...

This is your last chance to participate in NFPCCmp;A’s Energy Pay Pulse Survey. It closes Friday, December 15th! At NFPCCmp;A, we’ve designed our participant-only 2018 Energy Pay Pulse Survey to concisely and powerfully assess market trends for companies in the energy...

Longnecker & Associates was selected as one of the Fastest Growing Firms in 2017 in Consulting Magazine!  Check out our editorial feature here, including the interview with our President, Chris Crawford, about the continued growth and success we expect for Longnecker...

Dear All, It’s hard to believe the holidays are upon us, but what an exciting time it is for our great city of Houston as the Astros compete for their first World Series title! We may be champions by the time this hits your inbox, but whether we win or not, we are proud of...

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) launched a two-week consultation on potential updates to its benchmark voting policy for 2018. The comment period will allow all interested parties – including companies, investors, advisors, and others – to provide their perspective...

ISS published its annual post-season report on compensation results and trends last month, and this article from Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation summarizes their findings. Here are some main points: Say-on-pay support reached its...

Longnecker & Associates performed a detailed study of compensation awarded to chief executives at North Texas' largest publicly traded companies, based on 2016 revenue. This article written by Karen Robinson-Jacobs discuss the main trends found in our study and features...

In this month's L-Blast, there's an original NFPCCmp;A article about WorldatWork's first Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. in which we share some important facts on legislation, key pending legislative actions that may impact rewards professionals, and avenues for...

Our survey team at NFPCCmp;A has designed an incentive compensation survey for the Oil & Gas industry to provide competitive market practices in both annual and long-term incentive compensation plan designs. Specifically, the survey will report on incentive plan eligibility,...

While CEO pay has been a hot topic for many years, it has come back into the spotlight after the House of Representatives recently voted to repeal the Dodd-Frank legislation. Critics are complaining that transparency is necessary to lower CEO pay, but we are sharing this Fortune...

Carefully drafted incentive compensation plans can improve executive loyalty. It's a good idea to make sure your executives are protected, and there are a lot of variables to consider in putting together incentive compensation plans. This article discusses options like cash or...

One of the biggest issues facing boards today is setting goals for incentive plans. How do companies find that balance between motivating executives, aligning with the company's strategic goals, and satisfying shareholders? This article by ClearBridge analyzed the goals for...

We came across a recent report that we thought would be interesting to our readers. With the debate growing on whether or not TSR measures are the best approach for performance-based long-term incentives, this study highlights and discusses some other metric alternatives and...

Our Chairman & CEO, Brent Longnecker, was recently quoted in this article, Bonus Targets Can Be Real Easy for Bosses in a Volatile Industry, that uses the example of US Steel's bonus payouts to discuss easy compensation targets that are set for executives - a long-time...

Interesting article. However, a few additional points to complete the compensation picture. One, there is no reference to actual pay received as tied to stock price performance. Rather, this is a reference to the summary compensation table. Added, the summary compensation table...

Below is an excerpt from our latest monthly newsletter, the L-Blast. Please subscribe via our website. In a recent National Association of Corporate Directors panel, Longnecker & Associates’ CEO, Brent Longnecker, was asked a series of questions related to current hot...

"Political swings, global volatility, technology innovations and investor expectations will require deeper board engagement. Drawing on interactions with corporate directors and business leaders as well as insights from its research, the KPMG Board Leadership Center has...

Check out this interesting read regarding the new say on pay rules, form 10-k summaries, and a guide for proxy season. "As another year comes to a close, it is time for public companies to become acquainted with the securities law and business developments of the past year...

"The criteria for earning short-term incentive (STI) compensation appear to have entered a state of flux, judging by new research from the CFO Alliance. In particular, some companies are putting non-financial metrics, like customer or employee satisfaction, into the mix. But far...

ISS has published the U.S. Frequently Asked Questions for Equity Plan Compensation, Executive Compensation, Pay-for-Performance Mechanics, and U.S. Peer Selection (available here). In addition, an updated PFP white paper to reflect the new financial performance alignment test...

"Last month, the IRS provided helpful guidance under Code Section 409A with the release of its Chief Counsel Advice 201645012 (the CCA). The CCA is noteworthy because the IRS agreed that a 25% increase qualified as a materially greater amount, and thus deferred salary was...

2015 middle market executive compensation trends foreshadowed momentum companies are seeing in 2016. In Q2, the National Center for the Middle Market reported 7.2 percent revenue growth over the previous year, and while companies entered the year with some caution, 2015 pay...

One thing is for certain, the results of the election created a myriad of questions regarding the future of American politics. Less certain, though, is the level of impact the results will have on the futures of various executive compensation and corporate governance policies...

Sandra Pace, Managing Partner, Steven Hall & Partners, and Michael Sherry, CECP, Consultant, Steven Hall & Partners, discuss why organizations may be struggling to maintain their incentive programs, emerging considerations, pitfalls, and best practices. View the video...

"Late last month, the SEC issued (and this month it posted) a No-Action Letter rejecting Apple’s attempt to exclude a shareholder proposal on executive compensation. The proposal was an odd one, with a quirky supporting statement, apparently submitted by a retail investors on...