What’s behind a CEO’s paycheck in Switzerland 

Top CEOs are not just paid a simple salary like ordinary employees. The number on their paycheck includes variables that can top their annual salary. SWI swissinfo.ch takes a look at how top earners in a company are paid. It is that time of year when Swiss union Unia releases its annual report on the pay gap between top and bottom earners working for Switzerland’s largest companies. Last year, Switzerland's top managers earned on average 143 times more than their lowest paid employees. In 2022, the pay gap was slightly lower at 1:139. The gap is of little surprise. What is though, is the disparity between what CEOs of the same industry earn as well as how much they earn year to year. That number can increase or decrease significantly. Vas Narasimhan of pharma major Novartis topped the list this year at CHF16.2 million, earning almost twice as much as the previous year. On the other hand, Switzerland’s other pharma giant Roche paid its CEO almost a third less, dropping from CHF15.1 ...