Ropes & Gray Partners with The Conference Board for Report on Executive Incentive Pay Metrics

Ropes & Gray partnered with The Conference Board, in collaboration with ESGAUGE and FW Cook, on a new report, "What Companies Reward: The Changing Mix of Metrics in Executive Incentive Pay.”

Nonfinancial metrics in executive pay are often viewed through the narrower lens of whether companies are adopting or retreating from ESG-linked pay. The data presented in the report suggest a more nuanced shift: boards are not abandoning nonfinancial measures but becoming more selective about which measures belong in pay plans and how they connect to business performance.

This report examines how U.S. public companies in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500 use financial and nonfinancial performance metrics in short-term incentive and long-term incentive plans, including where they appear, how heavily they are weighted, and what they signal about changing board priorities.