“The Romanian market has shown the same 6-8% average increase in executive compensation as its peers in Eastern Europe,” said Mona Neagoe, Pedersen & Partners partner and country manager for Romania.
By comparison, executives in Bulgaria make an average of EUR72,700 a year, those in Serbia make EUR74,500 a year and top executives in Hungary make EUR122,900 a year.
Top executives make less than in Romania in Belarus (EUR59,100), Latvia (EUR75,100), Estonia (EUR76,200), Lithuania (EUR78,200) and South Africa (EUR115,800), according to the survey.
At the opposite end, the best paid top executives are in Switzerland (EUR242,800), UK (EUR225,200) and Germany (EUR220,100).
Salary packages include base salaries and bonuses.
Factors affecting executive compensation are the size of the company and its performance, as most top executives are measured against company profits.
The average cash compensation of a top executive in a large, global corporation is EUR1.4 million with an average increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year. The compensation includes a base salary of EUR681,000 and a short-term bonus of EUR719.000 gross per year. On average, base salaries increased by 3.1% and short-term bonuses by 4.2%.
The survey conducted by Pedersen & Partners polled 1,700 top executives in 330 companies in 17 countries. The survey covers top executives in the world’s largest companies with an average headcount of 133,000 employees, an average turnover of EUR42 billion and average company profits of EUR4.1 billion.