How Long It Would Take CEOs to Make What Their Workers Make – ryan

  • How long would it take a CEO to make what workers at their company earn in a year?
  • BI analyzed the compensation of CEOs and median employees from S&P 500 companies to find out.
  • For some CEOs at big companies, it would only take a few hours.

For some chief executives, it would take about a day to make what a typical employee at their company makes in a year. For some leaders, it would take even less time than that.

We looked at the compensation of dozens of CEOs working for some of the biggest S&P 500 companies to figure out how long it would take them to earn the median employee’s annual compensation based on data filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the 2024 fiscal year.

We then ranked the executives from longest to shortest time, rounded to the nearest minute. The CEOs of Starbucks, McDonald’s, and several other retail companies ranked high on the list.

Below is a list of 20 CEOs who would need to work the shortest amount of time for the companies we looked at.

20. Thermo Fisher Scientific CEO Marc Casper: 21 hours and 46 minutes

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CEO compensation: $30,449,599

Median worker compensation: $75,643

19. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: 21 hours and 27 minutes

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

CEO compensation: $79,106,183

Median worker compensation: $193,744

Microsoft’s financial filing said the company identified median worker compensation based on employees’ earnings on the last day of its fiscal year. The filing did not include people who joined the company as part of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

18. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: 20 hours and 40 minutes

ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $39,408,629

Median worker compensation: $92,958

“Our median employee is an entry level Operations Manager, based in Hong Kong,” Uber’s financial filing said.

17. Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak: 20 Hours and 23 minutes

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CEO compensation: $20,237,916

Median worker compensation: $47,109

“Approximately 58% of our employees are located in non-OECD countries, which tend to be lesser developed countries with lower wages than OECD countries,” the company’s financial filing said.

16. Home Depot CEO Edward Decker: 19 hours and 48 minutes

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $15,574,678

Median worker compensation: $35,196

“Our median-paid associate for Fiscal 2024 was an hourly employee in the U.S.,” Home Depot’s financial filing said.

15. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser: 19 hours and 44 minutes

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CEO compensation: $31,142,602

Median worker compensation: $70,138

“The ‘annual total compensation’ of our median employee includes salary as of December 31, 2024, overtime pay, other fixed pay, incentive compensation, if applicable, and company-paid benefits,” Citigroup’s financial filing said.

14. Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg: 18 hours and 22 minutes

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CEO compensation: $30,138,094

Median worker compensation: $63,197

“The median employee is an accounts specialist based in the United States,” the company’s financial filing said.

13. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna: 16 hours and 56 minutes

SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $25,143,682

Median worker compensation: $48,582

12. PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta: 16 hours and 17 minutes

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $28,814,759

Median worker compensation: $53,551

11. Eaton CEO Craig Arnold: 15 hours and 34 minutes

Roger Mastroianni/Getty Images for Eaton

CEO compensation: $22,597,466

Median worker compensation: $40,157

10. American Express CEO Stephen Squeri: 14 hours and 15 minutes

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CEO compensation: $37,164,405

Median worker compensation: $60,421

9. Apple CEO Tim Cook: 13 hours and 28 minutes

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CEO compensation: $74,609,802

Median worker compensation: $114,738

“We offer a wide range of benefits to our global employee population, and we are committed to paying our employees competitively and equitably based on their role,” Apple’s financial filing said.

8. Disney CEO Bob Iger: 11 hours and 44 minutes

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CEO compensation: $41,122,670

Median worker compensation: $55,111

“The median Disney employee works in a full-time hourly role in parks and has been with the Company for over seven years,” the company’s financial filing said.

7. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon: 8 hours and 59 minutes

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CEO compensation: $26,968,924

Median worker compensation: $27,642

6. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski: 8 hours and 25 minutes

Richa Naidu/Reuters

CEO compensation: $18,195,263

Median worker compensation: $17,492

“Our median employee for 2024 is a restaurant crew employee located in Poland,” the company’s financial filing said.

5. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet: 7 hours and 46 minutes

Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $24,915,146

Median worker compensation: $22,106

“Because of the geographical distribution of our workforce, our compensation program reflects many factors to determine how we compensate our employees in different countries around the world,” Accenture’s financial filing said.

4. GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp: 6 hours and 51 minutes

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CEO compensation: $88,954,586

Median worker compensation: $69,553

“As a result of the employee population changes in connection with the spin-off of GE Vernova in April 2024, we determined that a new median employee should be selected,” the company’s financial filing said, which also said, “General Electric Company operates as GE Aerospace.”

3. TJX Companies CEO Ernie Herrman: 5 hours and 51 minutes

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CEO compensation: $22,222,769

Median worker compensation: $14,857

The company’s financial filing said the “median employee for purposes of our pay ratio estimate was a part-time hourly retail store Associate” for the 2024 fiscal year.

2. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey: 4 hours and 25 minutes

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CEO compensation: $28,002,284

Median worker compensation: $14,144

The financial filing said that “employees in flexible, part-time roles, such as certain employees at retail stores operated by Costa Limited, our coffee business, lower the annual total compensation for our median employee.”

1. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol: 1 hour and 19 minutes

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CEO compensation: $97,813,843

Median worker compensation: $14,674

“Partners frequently work in flexible, part-time roles, which has the effect of lowering the annual total compensation for our median employee,” the company’s financial filing said.