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- Directors working longer for little or no pay increase
- Median pay falls to $50,000 from $52,000
- Hours worked rises to 178 a year from 132
- Gender pay gap widens with women directors earning median $45,000
Company directors are working longer hours for little or no increase in pay, with higher workloads seeing them refusing roles because of a lack of time.
The latest Directors' Fees Report from the Institute of Directors (IoD) and Ernst and Young (EY), showed the median fee for non-executive directors fell to $50,000 from $52,000.
The decline in fees was said to reflect more people in lower paid roles being covered by the survey, which was also a factor in the pay gap between male and female widening.
The average hours worked surged to 178 a year from 132 last year.
The report was put together with data from 4077 directorships held by 1148 IoD members across 1752 organisations.
IoD general manager of learning and engagement Michael Fraser said directors were facing more complex tasks with increasing emphasis on climate change, technology, and greater demands for support from management.
"Economic uncertainty, global volatility, regulatory complexity and increasing expectations from shareholders and stakeholders make the current operating environment extremely challenging."
He said the roles were further complicated by geopolitical uncertainty and legal risk of personal liability for directors.
Not doing it for the money
EY partner Una Diver said the make up of the survey to include more people in non-profit organisations, and volunteering for board positions for little or no fees was a factor in the drop in median pay.
"But the trend over the past few years has been for little change in director fees."
She said directors, regardless of whether they were large companies or small non-profit community and social groups, were rarely motivated by the payment.
"It's the intellectual challenge, it's the belief 'I can add value' in the role, it's the idea 'I want to giveback' ... and it's the general alignment with the organisation are the sorts of things that drive people."
However, the survey showed that the $5000 gap between fees paid to women directors and men widened -- with the median annual fee for men at $50,000 and for women $45,000 -- compared to $3800 gap in 2023.
"Female respondents were more likely to be in a lower-paid role serving on the boards of smaller organisations," Diver said.
"However, it is disappointing to see the gender pay gap grow in our flagship statistic."