Mabili Search maintains IT is the lowest paid industry in its annual directors' remuneration report. The human resources solutions company states IT CEOs receive the lowest median total package, at R3.4 million a year, and also the lowest median guaranteed package (R2 million).
This is lower than the median guaranteed package of R2.6 million and the median total package of R4.7 million for the entire CEO sample in the report of listed companies on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE).
However, this is not taking into account telecommunications companies, which are not categorised as IT organisations.
“One of the main reasons for IT CEOs getting less is that executive pay is very closely linked to the size of the company. In the IT sector, companies tend to be much smaller compared to mining, finance and other sectors,” says Mabili Search MD Laurence Grubb.
Misplaced companies
Despite the low standing of IT CEOs, Grubb also notes a number of key considerations should be taken into account when interpreting these figures. Grubb says the listing structure of the JSE isn't entirely representative, as a number of companies with significant technology portfolios are not listed in the technology sector.
“MTN, Altech and Telkom and other ICT companies are listed under the consumer sector on the JSE. Moreover, an organisation like Vox Telecom hasn't made the move over to the main JSE board despite being a significant player in the local technology sector.” says Grubb.
He goes on to say the best solution would be for IT companies to select from the full list of JSE companies that they would best like to compare against. Those companies could access each other's information from Mabili's report, or from the annual reports of the specific companies, over the Internet, or via the JSE.
And the top earners are
MTN Group CEO Phuthuma Nhleko is at the top of the overall telecoms and IT remuneration list. Last year, he was the leading earner in the telecoms space.
This year, Nhleko has earned the highest overall salary with bonuses, benefits and stock options included his total salary tops at R16.3 million. His annual salary for the last financial year stands at R5.9 million.
Datatec CEO Jens Montanana still earns the highest annual salary of $1.005 million (R8.6 million), across all industry sectors. Montanana held last year's top earning position and both he and Dimension Data CEO Jeremy Ord (who earned $610 000) are the only top earning directors remunerated in dollars.
Click here to view the IT Executive Directors Remuneration 2008 table.
Related stories:
MTN tops pay stakes
Share
