Read between the lines
Do not believe the smoke and mirrors act that AJ is peddling.
He says this - 'QF management are disciplined, have accpeted pay freezes, forgone cash bonuses, and his current salary is less than what it was when he was at JQ in 2008' !!
Hilarious.The catch in all this is this 'my salary is less than JQ in 2008'.
As follows:
1) Salary only makes up a small component of an Execs remuneration package, and it is usually the smallest component at that. Other tasty treats can include but not limited to ;
2) Sign on bonus
3) KPI bonus - often linked to OTP, company financial performance etc
4) Consultancy links
5) Leasing companies linked to the airline which can include things such as aircraft, aircraft components, general supplies, uniforms/clothing and GSE to name a few
6) Share options that are gifted, completely free
7) Director fee's. Often this is a nice earner if a 'parent company' owns let say 7 subsiduary companies for example. A CEO could be a Director or board member on these smaller franchises and earn a tidy fee from each subsiduary
8) Finally, this is a very basic and brief overview of how executive managements TRUE package is put together, and this does not include every ingenious method of padding out their supposedly mere and humble remuneration package.
Put it another way, I once knew a CEO who earned a mere salary of just over $500 000 per year. He never mentioned in interviews that he was 'gifted' almost $70 million in share options. All he ever banged on about was how 'he did it tough and humble' when his 'salary' as CEO was so much lower when compared with other equivalent company CEO's who earned 'salaries' of millions per year. Yeah right, the reality was he was cleaning house while the naieve and dumb staff swallowed his smoke and mirror pauper act - hook, line and sinker.
It's all a deceptive play on words designed to fool the masses....
So, my point ? If a person wants to be absolutely truthful as to what he/she earns then he/she will outline each of the above points (and any extra souces of financial benefit), table it and allow everyone to calculate the true worth of the said persons remuneration.
P.S Sunfish - This is a topic/subject that you would understand very clearly. Perhaps you could add or provide some additional input on how or what could be done to accurately assess what an individual's true 'take home value' is under these sort of executive packages ? All hypothetical of course.