INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
London: Britain's biggest companies will from 2020 be legally required to publish the gap between the salary of
their chief executive and what they pay their average UK worker, under proposed new government rules.Business minister Greg Clark said that
the government would set out new laws in Parliament on Monday which meant that UK-listed companies with more than 250 employees would have
to reveal their pay gap and justify their CEO's salary."We understand the anger of workers and shareholders when bosses' pay is out of step
with company performance," Clark said in a statement on Sunday.He said the new laws would improve transparency and boost accountability for
both shareholders and workers, as well as helping to "build a fairer economy".The new laws, which are subject to parliamentary approval, are
part of the government's "Industrial Strategy" and will come into effect from Jan
1 2019, meaning companies will start reporting in 2020.When these rules were first proposed last year, they were criticised by union leaders
who said that they fell short of Prime Minister Theresa May's promise early on in her tenure to tackle soaring executive pay.She came to
power after the 2016 Brexit vote vowing to tackle what she called the "unacceptable face" of capitalism, including pay gaps and mismanaged
takeovers, which had driven a wedge between British bosses and their workers. The plan to make public the worker to boss pay gap comes
after Theresa May has already implemented rules to highlight pay discrepancies between genders.But some campaigners and investors have
questioned whether the greater transparency provided by disclosures on boss to worker pay will be enough to force companies to curb pay
excesses.Matthew Fell, chief UK policy director at British employers group, the Confederation of British Industry, said that the new
legislation would help develop a better dialogue between boards and employees."What's most important is that all businesses make progress
towards fair and proportionate pay outcomes," he said.While Luke Hildyard, director of think tank, High Pay Centre, said the insight into
pay ratios would be useful to investors, workers and wider society."We hope that it will initiate a more informed debate about what
represents fair, proportionate pay for workers at all levels," he said.The plan to make public the worker to boss pay gap comes after May
has already implemented rules to highlight pay discrepancies between genders.Earlier this year, all UK companies with 250 or more employees
had to publish details of the salary difference between male and female employees
They will report back annually on that pay gap.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
