We’ve just released our annual Executive Compensation Report. While the median on-target earnings (OTE) for executives in 2021 increased from $300,000 to more than $325,000 — a more than 8.5% increase — 2022 could be a different story.
Lofty growth projections and an unprecedented boom in venture capital has been outpaced by the current talent crunch. And early signs in Q1 of 2022 show that the record-setting VC investment pace has already started to slow.
How can executives be prepared for the ripple effects of these trajectories? Our report points to the data and resources that can set executives up for success:
- The rates of key executive structural benefits, such as secondary sales, buyback equity, and dilution protection also declined in 2021. As such, executives should focus less on cash compensation during negotiations, and more on protecting themselves with their employment agreements.
- Due to a dependance on non-guaranteed commissions and bonuses, sales executives are making less than 60% of their annual income in base salary, compared to almost 75% for their peers in marketing. Sales execs are fighting these trends by securing more earnings as guaranteed salary using tools like Pavilion’s Compensation Calculator.
- Increasingly, executives reported feeling rushed in negotiating benefit structure and salaries. Only 16% hired lawyers and nearly 70% negotiated for a week or less after receiving an offer.
- The commanding talent market is likely to slow in 2022, which will allow for executives to invest in professional development and education tools, such as Pavilion’s 12-week CRO school.
- Zooming out, North American executives continued to outpace their global counterparts in 2021, with the median North American OTE standing 18% higher than in Asia and 34% higher than Europe.
For executives, our new compensation report demonstrates the opportunity to realign benefit structures and compensation is in the executive’s hands.
Dig into the data here