2 in 3 say companies doing poor job avoiding CEO-employee pay gap: Gallup

Around two-thirds of Americans say companies are doing a poor job of avoiding major pay gaps between chief executives and average employees, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by Bentley University and Gallup and published Tuesday, found a majority of people believe companies aren’t doing enough to prevent the pay gap between the company’s top employees and its lowest.

Just under 10 percent of respondents said companies are doing a "good" job of avoiding a pay gap, and 21 percent say they are doing a “fair” job. Just 4 percent say companies are doing an “excellent” job.

Across the board, respondents felt the same no matter their age, race or ethnicity and income.

Among partisan groups, Democrats were most critical of the pay gap. Roughtly 81 percent of Democrats said they think businesses are not doing a good job avoiding pay gaps. Just under 65 percent of independents said the same and 47 percent of Republican respondents agreed.

Gallup noted that the 2023 median pay package for a CEO rose to $16.3 million, a 12.6 percent increase from the year before.

More than half, 56 percent, of respondents say that it’s “extremely important” for businesses to avoid a major pay gap. That number has stayed consistent since 2022.

Just 5 percent of people in the 2024 survey said it was not important at all.

The survey was conducted from April 29-May 6 among 5,835 adults and has a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points.