The worst recession in decades hit hard last year and had Americans stripping budgets to the bare bones. Forget new cars, expensive trips, new wardrobes.
But for the folks at the top of corporate America, the perks rolled on.
"We haven't noticed a significant decline in either the cost of perks or the number of perks being provided," says Paul Hodgson, who tracks executive-compensation issues for the Corporate Library. "What continues to surprise the most is that greater disclosure has not imbued boards with a greater sense of shame for what they pay for."
We're talking about corporate CEOs who earned, on average, $10.8 million last year at 198 large companies with revenue of at least $6.3 billion, according to the compensation experts at Equilar. And about perks trickling down to top deputies paid nearly as well.
But while the market (and many of their employers' stocks) fell apart in 2008, many of these execs still didn't even have to open their wallets to enjoy the high life.
Does that seem right to you? If not, there's some advice on how to fight back on the next page of this column.
MSN Money slide show
See who got some of the most expensive and most interesting perks of 2008.
The perk parade
Executives enjoyed a gravy train of cushy perks such as use of corporate jets, exclusive golf club memberships, expensive cars and ski weekends, all at shareholder expense.Michelle Leder digs up interesting perks -- including the ones in our slide show -- at her Web site, Footnoted.org, where she acts as self-appointed supernanny to the unruly kids in the boardrooms who give away so much shareholder wealth in the form of lavish perks, layered on top of already-rich pay packages.
"Some companies are doing the right thing and getting rid of the corporate jet," Leder says. "But we still see plenty of examples of hefty perks."
The median value of CEO use of the corporate jet was up 22% last year to $141,477 from $109,743 in 2007, according to Equilar, which says part of the increase might have been due to higher fuel prices
The list begs the question, why do boards continue their largesse?
"It's not about the money. It's about the prestige," says Rich Ferlauto the director of pension and benefit policy at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "It's all about wearing the crown of the CEO. CEOs see this as an entitlement."
More from MSN Money
Money for nothing
No one denies that executives should be able to reap the rewards when their companies succeed. But what irks critics is that perks aren't tied to performance -- and that they roll on while companies do worse than the market."If you believe CEOs are employees of shareholders who have suffered tremendous losses, it's pretty inefficient to provide these giveaways that are not performance-related and are used basically to stroke their egos," Ferlauto says.
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