97. This is the gross ratio that today separates the average salary of a CEO of the CAC 40 from that of an employee. By 2025, this gap continues to widen, despite the promise of increased transparency emphasized by Article L. 225-37-3 of the Commercial Code. The figures are in: the leaders of the largest listed companies continue to show growing remuneration, while debates about their legitimacy heat up in boardrooms as well as at the local bar.
In this context, some companies prefer to play it discreet regarding deferred bonuses, camouflaging under nebulous formulations what could upset stakeholders. Others, on the contrary, reveal their compensation scales more broadly, in an effort to preempt shareholder discontent. Environmental criteria are emerging in variable remuneration, but their calculation method remains a black box for the average person.
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Executive Compensation in France: Current State and Significant Developments in 2025
The issue of executive compensation in France has never been more pressing. The latest annual report confirms this: the gap between the salaries of CEOs in the CAC 40 and those of employees continues to widen. For 2025, the average annual remuneration of a leader of a large listed company exceeds 7.3 million euros, according to the AMF. A 5% jump in one year, driven by the rise in variable bonuses and a massive distribution of free shares.
In detail, 62% of the total now comes from the variable portion, indexed to financial performance but also to non-financial objectives. Among these, ESG criteria—environmental, social, governance—are making their way into the boardroom agendas. However, the way these objectives are measured remains opaque. In most cases, it is impossible to know precisely what validates or invalidates the payment of a bonus.
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Some personalities embody these debates. The salary of Nicolas Dufourcq, head of Bpifrance, is often cited as a symbol of a new era of transparency, or its limits. The question goes beyond the amount itself: it touches on the legitimacy of such sums in a context where society questions the place of economic elites and their privileges.
For business leaders outside the CAC 40, the increase in salaries remains more moderate. But the pressure is mounting, fueled by the media coverage of some record payments and the growing demand for regulation from shareholders. The ratio between the average executive compensation and that of employees sometimes reaches 1 to 97: a gap that fuels controversy, even as the European Commission moves forward with new rules to enhance salary transparency.
Transparency, Equity, and Social Responsibility: What Expectations Amid Controversies Over CEO Salaries?
The principle of salary transparency is gradually establishing itself as a norm, under the pressure of civil society and new European rules. Large French companies are readjusting their practices: the European directive on salary transparency and the CSRD are profoundly transforming the daily lives of human resources. HR directors and managers face a dilemma: to what extent should they reveal the compensation of executives? How to balance the duty to inform, respect for privacy, and the growing demands of shareholders?
Behind these choices, one reality prevails: salary inequalities persist. The difference between the salaries of CEOs and those of employees continues to fuel distrust. Expectations are changing: social responsibility is becoming crucial, on par with profitability. Gender equality, the production of reports required by the CSRD, the direct pressure from the European Union, all of this pushes companies to rethink how they compensate executives.
Here are some requests that regularly arise in discussions between unions, shareholders, and management:
- The publication of the ratio between the salaries of CEOs and those of the company’s employees, long demanded by employee representatives.
- A serious evaluation of non-financial criteria, to give meaning and credibility to the bonuses awarded to executives.
Now, transparency goes beyond simply revealing a figure in an annual report. It involves justifying, explaining, and being accountable for the relevance of high salaries. In the face of distrust, French companies are walking a tightrope between social expectations and increasingly strict regulatory constraints. It remains to be seen who will set the boundary between legitimate remuneration and indefensible excess in the future, and how society, employees, and shareholders will engage with this issue.