6 Business Chiefs Who Are Ludicrously Better Paid Than Their Staff

These 6 CEOs Are Ludicrously Better Paid Than Their Staff
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Britain's business leaders have enjoyed seeing their pay packets soar as the economy recovers from the financial crash, but average workers have not been so lucky.

According to the High Pay Centre think-tank Britain's top executives are now paid around 131 times more than their average employees.

In 1980, analysis of six major firms found that chief executives were paid between 13 and 44 times their average employee, while in 1998, the average FTSE 100 CEO made 47 times their average employee. Last year, chief executives made around 174 times that of the average British worker.

High Pay Centre director Deborah Hargreaves said: "When bosses make hundreds of times as much money as the rest of the workforce, it creates a deep sense of unfairness.

"Britain’s executives haven’t got so much better over the past two decades. The only reason why their pay has increased so rapidly compared to their employees is that they are able to get away with it."

Now the High Pay Centre has singled out the business leaders who are paid many times more than their average employees, comparing figures in the company annual reports to those for average pay at each firm provided by Pensions and Investment Research Consultants.

HuffPost UK presents just six ludicrously well-paid chief executives.

6 Insanely Over-Paid CEOs/Business Chiefs
This business chief gets 418 times more(01 of06)
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Richard Cousins, chief of the Compass Group foodservice giant, enjoys a £5.5 million package, while his average worker gets £13,248. (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This hospitality boss gets 415 times more(02 of06)
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Andy Harrison, chief of the hospitality giant Whitbread, which owns brands like Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, gets £6.4 million, much more than his average worker's £15,362. (credit:Whitbread )
This travel boss gets 377 times more(03 of06)
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Peter Long, boss of TUI Travel, the travel group giant, gets £10.1 million, many times more than his average employee's £26,874. (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This food giant boss gets 361 times more(04 of06)
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George Weston, head of Associated British Food, earns £5.4 million, an estimated 361 times what his average worker gets (£14,558). (credit:BORIS HORVAT via Getty Images)
And this tobacco chief gets 305 times more(05 of06)
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British American Tobacco boss Nicandro Durante gets £6.5 million, which is many times more than his average worker's pay (£21,309).
This mining boss gets 231 times more(06 of06)
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Mark Bristow, CEO of Jersey headquartered-mining company Randgold Resources, earns £4.4 million. (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The figures come after the coalition government introduced measures aimed at curbing executive pay in 2013. The pay figures include bonuses, so-called long-term incentive plans (LTIPs) and other benefits.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "The government has introduced comprehensive reforms to give shareholders more powers in order to restore the link between top pay and performance, which in recent years has become excessive and increasingly disconnected.

"In October 2013 new laws reforming the governance of top pay came into force, boosting transparency by arming shareholders with more information and giving them the power to hold companies to account."