Critically analyse the UK Government’s proposals to deal with the problems of executive pay. How successful do you think they will be in discouraging excessive pay and pay without performance?

In the coming months, the UK government will introduce legislation that will require listed companies to annually publish and justify the pay ratio between the CEO’s pay and the company’s average UK worker’s pay. Additionally, the names of all listed companies that receive greater than 20 per cent shareholder opposition to executive pay packages will be published on a new public register. Last but not least, updates to the UK Corporate Governance Code will strengthen the representation of employee interests at company boards by requiring listed companies to have to

Either:

(i) Assign a non-executive director to represent employees;

(ii) Create an employee advisory council

(iii) Nominate a director from the workforce.

Critically analyze the UK Government’s proposals to deal with the problems of executive pay. How successful do you think they will be in discouraging excessive pay and pay without performance? Support your answer with arguments based on literature and policy papers.