Executive compensation can be quite a big deal if you're a shareholder with a company; as you'd expect, people want to be able to have a say on whether or not a high ranking member of an organization is getting paid at appropriate rates. Microsoft, the huge company that it is, is aware of this, and voted on Friday to allow its shareholders to have this very ability, according to CNET.
Microsoft's board voted for this to be approved, and from now on, a vote will be held every three years that will give shareholders their chance to make a mark; CNET stated that the vote will be advisory in nature, and the first of the advisory measures will be included in the upcoming shareholder meeting on November 19. Brad Smith, a Microsoft general counsel and board secretary, stated, "Given the interest in executive pay, we think it makes sense to encourage more dialogue with our shareholders on our compensation approach."
Aditi Mohapatra, a sustainability analyst with the Calvert Group, said, "We believe that establishing an advisory vote on compensation is a significant step in providing shareholders a voice on this important issue." This is related to the fact that a number of shareholder groups and unions have been encouraging a number of large companies to give shareholders more say in terms of pay. Microsoft is said to have worked with a range of its shareholders to produce this approach, some of which previously submitted proposals very similar to the voting system Microsoft has now included.
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