Companies are increasingly choosing to overtly signal expansion of compensation committee oversight by changing the committee name.

Source: Mercer’s Global Disclosure Database

S&P 100

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Full S&P 500

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Non-S&P 500

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S&P 100

The S&P 100 continues to lead the market in changing the compensation committee name to one signifying broader Human Capital Management (HCM)-related oversight

S&P 500

In 2023, more than half of the S&P 500 have a committee name that implies a broader purview than just “compensation”

Non-S&P 500

Non-S&P 500 companies have been slower to adopt similar committee name changes but are showing the same increasing trend

Source: Mercer’s Global Disclosure Database of US Public Companies as of November 2023.

Potential compensation committee names

Most prevalent names broader
than Compensation Committee
1 Compensation & Human Capital Committee
2 Compensation & Human Resources Committee
3 Compensation & Management Development Committee
4 Human Resources Committee (“HRC”)
5 Compensation & Talent Committee
6 Compensation & Leadership Development Committee
7 Compensation & Benefits Committee
8 Organization & Compensation Committee
Select other names found
in the market
1 Human Capital & Compensation Committee (“HC3”)
2 Talent, Culture & Compensation Committee (“TCC”)
3 Compensation & Talent Development Committee
4 Social Responsibility & Compensation Committee (“SR&C”)
Note: Names are ordered in terms of prevalence (minimum of 10 observations). For #1, #2, #3, #5, and #6, it is also common toinvert the order of the words, with “compensation” second: i.e., “Human Capital & Compensation Committee”; “Human Resources& Compensation Committee”; “Management Development & Compensation Committee”; “Talent & Compensation Committee”;“Leadership Development & Compensation Committee”.

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