Culture of greed brings obscene pay for monkey business

I DON’T know when the gigantic disparity between the pay of the average worker and that of the bosses of large companies developed but it seems to have begun around 20 to 30 years ago and, like a snowball running down a hill, has developed into the monster seen today.

High ability and huge talents always attracted increased rewards and rightly so, and if these were accompanied with working very long hours they were immune from any criticism. Indeed, there was no envy, only admiration being directed at the relatively small group of people who fulfilled these desirable qualities.

How things have changed – and certainly not for the better. Has ability, huge talent and hard work been forsaken and replaced by unbridled greed?

In the recent ITV documentary Because We’re Worth It, the colossal, nay obscene, remunerations of the bosses of some FTSE quoted companies, were examined.

In fairness, the majority of executives who took part were of the opinion that the colossal pay was not warranted and that these people had formed a closed circle of power able to set their own huge rewards by indulging in a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” scenario.

Obscene pay was too often justified with spurious claims of “we are only paid the going rate for the job”, or “people will go elsewhere if they aren’t paid such rewards”, and that they are “responsible for turnovers or budgets of hundreds of millions and employ thousands of people, so really deserve their huge pay”.

The chief executives of many councils rely heavily on the latter reasons for the justification of their pay levels. It is frightening to imagine, based on this logic, the pay the Chancellor of the Exchequer should receive.

But, is their valuation of a person’s worth confined by his financial acumen? How are the services of, for example, a surgeon, a fireman, a nurse or a coal miner to be determined?

It is no use quoting the pay of footballers like Wayne Rooney to excuse their greed; his totally obscene pay does not provide an excuse for others to jump on the bandwagon, and besides, I am not forced to contribute to his pay.

None of the other professions named produce wealth or attract huge audiences to watch them at work, so just how do we pay them?

The total pay received by some company bosses is in excess of £5m. Probably because of its sheer size, it doesn’t register fully but this equates to a weekly pay packet of £100,000.

Now, if this isn’t obscene then I must return to school to correct my understanding of the word. It makes the state retirement pension of £107 per week seem impossible to contemplate.

Only two executives, RBS chief executive Stephen Hester and Lord Alan Sugar, supported the high pay levels, with the latter coming out with the very well worn “if you pay peanuts you get monkeys”.

Well, the trouble is, Lord Sugar, we have paid out obscene levels of pay but we have still managed to get monkeys.