Bonus watch: Bellway bosses bag £632,500
November 26th, 2008
Watson: was 2008 performance worth a £275,000 bonus?
There’s still no sign housebuilding bosses are attracted by the warm glow and good PR they’d get by waiving their bonuses in these difficult times.
Latest in line is Bellway. Admittedly the company is not in the same state of crisis as some of its peers but a £275,000 bonus for chief exec John Watson is a hefty whack. The company has made about 400 redundancies so far this year.
The figure was 55% of his entitlement and came on top of his salary of £500,000. Judging by a company statement, it seems the bonus was even toned down due to what it called “genuinely exceptional circumstances” in 2008.
It shows the Bellway bosses clearly thought twice about how it would look and counters the old argument about directors being tied in to bonuses that have been previously set.
Finance director Alistair Leitch got a bonus of £178,750 on top of a £325,000 salary and other director bonuses took the overall total to £632,500.
Bellway is one of the truly bullshit-free companies out there but the question remains:
Who will be the first construction boss to hear the little voice in his head that says a big bonus is morally questionable during these tough times and listen to it?
Readers' comments
Mr Roberts 28 November, 2008 | Reply
I guess it’s easier to complain when your not being offered that sort of money yourself, however as a Chartered Surveyor dealing with various construction related company directors, the level of detachment is staggering. Notwithstanding I do take issue with the phase Bullshit-free. Considering this is a construction professional’s magazine that finds it way through universities and business, surely some editorial discretion should have been displayed.
Joe Bloggs 2 December, 2008 | Reply
It’s nice to see John Watson not struggle for Christmas. Do you think he will be sending Christmas cards to all 400 people who have been made redundant?