CEO salaries in Finland’s top listed companies have once again increased to record levels, a report in Helsingin Sanomat claims on Saturday.
The revelations show that the gulf between Finland’s highest and lowest earners is continuing to grow, at a time when thousands of workers are being laid off as some of the country’s major employers seek to cut costs.
Last year the paper’s examination of top pay in Finland’s private sector found that average CEO salaries and bonuses for 2013 had surpassed the one-million-euro mark for the first time. Repeating the exercise, Helsingin Sanomat’s comparison found that salaries paid for last year are now even higher.
The paper reports that pay rises given to top executives were five times larger than increases to the average worker’s salary. The average CEO now earns as much as 25 frontline staff combined, up from the equivalent of 23 staff one year ago.
The paper’s calculations do not include share options which may also be included as part of top executives’ remuneration packages.
Topping Helsingin Sanomat’s list again this year is the head of finance giant Sampo Group. Kari Stadigh earned a combined salary and bonus of 3.6 million euros in 2014. When pension supplements and share earnings are added into the total, Stadigh’s earnings come to over 4.6 million euros.
The largest payoff – in case of a possible firing – went to forestry firm UPM’s boss Jussi Pesonen, and came to 2.7 million euros, the paper says. In January this year UPM announced hundreds of job losses in Finland and overseas.
