September 25, 2019
Director Meeting Fees. . .Going, Going, Gone?
– Liz Dunshee
As you can see from the studies posted in our “Director Pay” Practice Area, it’s become a pretty rare thing for public companies to pay director meeting fees. In fact, this Pearl Meyer blog reports that fewer than 25% of companies are doing it (though it’s still a majority practice at private companies). The blog gives these recommendations if your directors insist on being paid for attendance:
1. If your number of board or committee meetings is consistently above your peer group meeting, revisit whether your retainers account for that workload
2. If there’s a non-recurring situation, consider an ad-hoc retainer for affected directors
3. If directors are uncertain about their workload, consider conditional meeting fees if the number of meetings exceeds a pre-established threshold