November 14, 2013
Being required to make public the median income of those on a payroll as well as the ratio of median income to the income of the CEO, I believe, is valuable information needed for citizens to make informed decisions about the companies they do business with. If I, as a consumer, know that employees are not being paid an average wage that buys an acceptable standard of living, I may decide not to use the company in question. Furthermore, being able to make informed decisions based on the way a company compensates its employees in relation to its CEO could be used to make investment decisions. For instance, I would be much less likely to invest in a company that pays its CEO 10,000,000 dollars a year while only paying its employees 10,000 per year. In my eyes, this reflects an organization that does not value its employees enough to pay a living wage and could have an effect on the long term viability of the company.