We are your trusted reward experts in the Swiss market supporting industries and sizes with tailored, innovative and sustainable solutions.
Compensation Consulting
Is your compensation strategy aligned with your business’s current stage?
As companies grow and develop, their needs, priorities, and challenges shift – just like people. At each stage of their journey, companies require employees with a diverse range of talents and need a compensation strategy that is customised to attract, retain, and motivate their workforce effectively. Below, we outline the key factors to consider for tailoring compensation to each stage of company growth:
Start-ups
Start-ups face the challenge of acquiring the right skills and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit. Since maintaining liquidity is imperative at this stage, incentives that promise a share in future success without depleting present cash reserves might be the way to go.
Growth companies
Growth companies must consolidate and formalise employee relations by establishing a compensation philosophy, principles, and policy. They should design an incentive plan that motivates and retains employees while complying with legal, regulatory, and reporting requirements. The total compensation system should reflect market standards and introduce STI and LTI programs with KPIs tied to the business strategy.
Mature companies (listed & non-listed)
Mature organisations need to formalise these arrangements even further and may require guidance on their compensation committee, compensation governance and disclosure, as well as on compensation analysis and benchmarking.
How can we support your business needs?
Our Reward Team offers a comprehensive range of services in compensation design, implementation and maintenance services, tailored to support your company’s growth spanning the entire life cycle of your company. While these services are generally aligned with different levels of organisational maturity, we recognise that additional support may be necessary depending on the unique challenges your business faces at any given phase.
Organisations involved in deals will likely need assistance in reviewing existing incentives and designing and implementing retention plans to ensure that the new structure has the talent necessary to sustain and thrive.
Moreover, as businesses increasingly operate across multiple jurisdictions with varying tax and regulatory requirements, our team is here to help you navigate these complexities whilst maximising the benefits for both people and business.
| Start-ups | Growth companies | Mature companies | Compensation in Deals | |
| Compensation philosophy, principles and policy | ✓ | ✓ |
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| Incentive plan design (STI and LTI) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Incentive plan implementation (including plan rules and documentation, internal communication, tax rulings, employer reporting and withholding obligations as well as accounting considerations)
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✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Swiss and international income tax and social security on compensation & benefits | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Valuation considerations of non-listed shares for income and wealth tax purposes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| IPO readiness checks and preparation for non-listed companies | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Compensation committee advisor | ✓ | |||
| Compensation governance | ✓ | |||
| Compensation disclosure / compensation report | ✓ | |||
| AGM and shareholder engagement | ✓ | |||
| Benchmark of compensation (board and executive committee in Swiss market) | ✓ | |||
| Report, roundtables and trainings for Swiss listed companies | ✓ |
Executive compensation products for mature organisations
When companies reach a mature stage, their essential needs are to align compensation structure with market practice and a pay for performance philosophy as well as adhere to additional governance and compliance requirements. To support mature companies achieve these objectives, we propose a panel of diverse products listed below.
Comprehensive customised set of services for Compensation Committees of Swiss listed companies
We designed a comprehensive customised set of services for Compensation Committees of Swiss listed companies which covers the basic annual agenda items of the Compensation Committee:
- analysis of the most recent annual general meeting;
- annual review of compensation strategy against market practice and proxy advisors’ guidelines;
- drafting of the compensation report for your company;
- yearly governance update and preparation of the next annual general meeting.
By purchasing the Compensation Committee Suite, you will automatically receive our Executive Compensation Design in SMI Expanded Companies report with an invitation to join our roundtables twice a year.
To find out more about the Compensation Committee Suite, we invite you to click here.
Order the Compensation Committee SuiteExecutive Compensation Design report
The latest Executive Compensation Design report covers comprehensive information on the design of the compensation programmes applicable to the Boards of Directors and Executive Committees of the top 100 Swiss listed companies.
Companies that purchase the report are invited to:
- Our annual roundtable, including a full day event with guest speakers and an exchange on executive compensation, and
- Nine monthly Teams meetings focusing on topics in executive compensation chosen by the participants.
Executive Compensation Levels report
The standard Executive Compensation Levels report includes the following compensation data for Executive Committee positions and selected roles reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer:
- Annual base salary
- STI target amount, STI actual amount
- LTI target amount, LTI realised amount
- Employer pension contributions
The standard Executive Compensation Levels report is available in four data cuts: (i) SMI companies, (ii) SMIM companies, (iii) SPI companies that are not SMI or SMIM, and (iv) all companies.
For more information on the content of our Executive Compensation Design and Levels reports, we invite you to read our recent article.
Order the reportsBenchmark on Executive Committee Compensation
Our Swiss Executive Compensation survey was developed to meet the growing demand for reliable and consistent benchmarking data for Executive Committee positions and selected roles reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer in Swiss listed companies
As a result of the survey, we offer the following standard and customised reports (please note that participation in our survey is a prerequisite in order to purchase our reports):
Customised CEO / EC Benchmark
Benchmarking analysis of the compensation of selected executive positions (CEO, Executive Committee and/or CEO-1 position) in your company against a customised peer group of relevant companies. The benchmarking analysis provides information on the compensation mix and level of each position, as well as the annual base salary levels, target incentive amounts (short-term and long-term incentive), actual incentive amounts and pension contributions.
Executive Compensation Levels report
The standard report provides information on the compensation mix and levels for Executive Committee positions as well as selected roles reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer that are located in Switzerland. The report covers details on annual base salary levels, target incentive amounts (short- and long-term), actual incentive amounts and pension contributions.
The Executive Compensation Levels report is available in four data cuts: (i) SMI companies, (ii) SMIM companies, (iii) SPI companies that are not SMI or SMIM, and (iv) all companies.
For more information, please follow the buttons below.
CEO List
List of individual CEO compensation for top 100 Swiss listed companies (SMI, SMIM and SPI50).
Compensation benchmark for Swiss Board of Directors
To meet the high demand for benchmark data on Board compensation, we developed a database of Board compensation in Swiss listed companies, which allows us to provide you with a personalised report based on a specific and relevant peer group of Swiss listed companies. Upon request, international peers can also be added to your report.
This customised benchmark analysis enables you to verify that the Board compensation in your company is competitive and aligned with market practice. It includes information on the typical compensation structure and the compensation levels for the functions of Board chair, Board vice-chair and member of the Board, including details around compensation for the work in the various Board’s committees.
Workshops for reward specialists
Introducing our new Compensation Governance Workshop programme – designed to meet the unique requirements of Board and Executive members, Chief Human Resources Officers, and Reward specialists.
Our approach allows you the flexibility to select from our selection of modules those that are of interest to you in order to create a programme tailored to the specific needs of your organisation and participants’ levels of experience.
Our workshop offering includes various modules which can be customised to the specific needs and levels of experience. The following overarching topics can be covered in the modules:
- Corporate governance stakeholders
- Legal fundamentals and other directives
- Proxy advisors
- Shareholders’ perspective
Interested to get more information?
Contact us
Katalin Jakobsen