A FTSE250 Company Secretary writes...
For those companies that have decided to designate a NED for colleague engagement, have you decided to pay a fee, and if so at what level? I am inclined to pay our “going rate” for chairing a committee or being SID – but it would help to know what others are doing please.
We have not adjusted the fee at this point. Our nominated NED is already a chair of a Committee and receives our standard committee chair fee on top of the basic fee. We intend to review the position in the light of developing time commitments and against market trends in the coming year(s).
We are paying the same fee as for a committee chair.
That is exactly the approach we take, i.e. paying the same as chairing a committee or the SID appointment.
Thus far we have not added to the base NED fee and have adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to gauge how much extra work the role entails before deciding on any additional fee.
Our board has thought about this, but has decided not to pay an extra fee to the designated NED, because:
1. The designated NED is also the chair of the remuneration committee and receives an extra fee for chairing this committee (and we see the employee engagement brief as an adjunct to the whole “remuneration” responsibility)
2. TBH, the engagement activity (as distinct from the NED’s other duties) involves minimal extra time
We decided to use 50% of a committee chair fee on top of the basic NED fees.