Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) is facing criticism after the pay of boss Ken Murphy doubled to £10 million last year, coming in around 431 times that of the average supermarket worker.
Corporate governance think tank the High Pay Centre said Murphy’s pay highlighted the “extreme disparity” between everyday workers and the super-rich.
“This is the third highest gap between the CEO of any firm and their typical employee recorded since pay ratio reporting began five years ago,” said Luke Hildyard, the executive director of the High Pay Centre.
“You couldn’t really get a better indicator of how the UK economy serves the interests of the super-rich at the expense of everybody else than this.”
Murphy received a pack package of £9.93 million for the year to February, up from £4.4 million in the year prior.
An average Tesco worker’s salary was found to be £23,010 during the 2024 financial year.
Much of Murphy’s earnings came from a £4.91 million performance share plan, which provides the supermarket chief with Tesco shares for achieving financial targets.
Alison Platt, the chair of the Tesco remuneration committee, said: “This pay award reflects the fact Tesco has delivered for all of its stakeholders over the last year – from its most competitive-ever customer offer, to its record investment in colleague pay.”