It’s Fat Cat Thursday: Here’s what you need to know
Only three working days into the new year and some people will have earned the equivalent of the average UK salary.
If you’ve been perusing Twitter today, you may have encountered a few people talking about Fat Cat Thursday.
Just three working days into January 2018 top bosses are said to have earned the same as the average British worker will do in an entire year.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says the average FTSE 100 chief executive now earns £4.5 million a year, based on the FTSE 100 list in March 2017, compared to the average UK wage of £28,758.
Charities and non-governmental organisations took to Twitter to share their disdain at the day.
According to research carried out by the CIPD and think tank the High Pay Centre, in 2016, the pay ratio between FTSE 100 CEOs and the average pay package of their employees was 129:1. This means that for every £1 the average employee is paid, their CEO receives £129.
This is a drop from 2015, however, when the ratio was 148:1.
Although companies are paying huge salaries to their CEOs, just over a quarter of the FTSE 100 are accredited by the Living Wage Foundation for paying the voluntary living wage to all their UK-based staff.
Back on Twitter, some users were distressed to find that Fat Cat Thursday was not meant literally.
