THE pay squeeze is moving up the management ladder, with many Singapore firms intending to freeze the base wages of executives.

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A snap poll last December found that 44per cent of businesses based here plan to put the brakes on executive remuneration this year. Across Asia, the number was about 35per cent. The heightened sense of urgency here may reflect the fact that Singapore was the first country in the region to slip into recession.

But the pay freeze may not be the worst of it. Human resource consultancy Mercer, which conducted the survey, believes the numbers and the extent of the curb on salaries will worsen.

'While many companies in Asia have already indicated a freeze in their executive pay, we expect more organisations will follow suit once their 2009 compensation budgets are finalised,' said Mr Wei Zheng, the leader for Mercer's executive remuneration business in Asia. Mercer, which surveyed 257 companies in key Asian markets such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore, said the global economic fallout, declining stock prices and increasing public scrutiny on executive pay are forcing Asian companies to reassess their remuneration policies, with the axe also set to fall on short- and long-term incentive payouts.

FRANCIS CHAN

This article was first published in The Straits Times.