Poll: 78 percent of workers say CEOs make too much

Seventy-eight percent of U.S. workers think that CEOs make too much compared to employees, according to a new survey by beqom, a compensation software company.

A majority of beqom’s respondents — 60 percent — wants to know their CEO’s salary.

Wage inequality has emerged as a major policy issue on the left following the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I-Vt.), who championed causes including greater pay transparency and a higher minimum wage.

{mosads}Some 48 percent believed that men were paid more than women at their company. Around 31 percent said they believed race and age were a factor in unfair pay, and more than one-third, 34 percent, said they believed managers set pay based on gut feelings, rather than objective measures of skills and productivity. 

Generational differences also emerged in attitudes toward pay transparency. While over half of millennials said they know how much their colleagues made, just a third of baby boomers reported the same.

“Today’s workforce demands pay transparency because they believe it will motivate employees to work harder, create a better company and ultimately solve pay gap disparities among age, gender and race,” beqom CEO Fabio Ronga said.

The survey was conducted via cellphones on Sept. 12 among 1,200 U.S. adults aged 18 and up. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.