Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy has reclaimed the title of the highest-paid boss relative to his staff among top UK listed companies, after an annual audit revealed his multi-million-pound pay package reached more than 400 times that of an average worker.
The head of Britain's largest supermarket chain received a total remuneration package of £10.8million last year. That figure was 420 times the salary of the median Tesco employee, according to the annual boardroom pay audit published by The Financial Mail on Sunday.
Murphy had been briefly overtaken in the executive pay rankings last year by Peter Dilnot, the chief executive of aerospace engineering group Melrose. Dilnot collected £45million following a payout from the company's controversial bonus scheme, temporarily pushing Tesco off the top spot.
Executive Pay Gaps Across the FTSE 100
The findings come amid a wider surge in executive compensation across the FTSE 100, the index comprising the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Figures from the High Pay Centre, an independent research group monitoring pay distribution, show that a typical chief executive on the index now earns just over £5million annually.
That executive earnings figure is 130 times the income of a median worker in the United Kingdom. The think-tank noted that this disparity represents the widest wage gap recorded between corporate leaders and average workers in eight years.
Critics of expanding corporate earnings have pointed to broader economic pressures facing household finances. The High Pay Centre voiced strong criticism of the expanding disparity in its report, warning of the wider implications for the domestic economy. "While employee wages stagnate, living standards fall and the cost-of-living crisis continues, this is in neither the country's nor the economy's best interests," the think-tank concluded.
Retail Sector Structure and Global Pay Competition
The audit highlighted that consumer-facing sectors face particularly stark pay ratios. Retailers and hospitality companies consistently report some of the largest internal pay divides in corporate Britain, driven primarily by workforce structures that rely heavily on part-time and hourly operational staff.
In response to scrutiny over boardroom remuneration, major FTSE 100 corporations including Tesco argue that competitive executive compensation is vital for securing leadership talent. Large companies contend that US-style pay packages are necessary to compete effectively in an increasingly international market for top corporate leaders.
