Key themes and company highlights
The 2025 AGM season in Switzerland reveals a landscape of strategic adaptation and regulatory anticipation. Drawing on WTW’s latest analysis of Swiss multinational companies, some clear themes have emerged.
Swiss multinationals are increasingly recalibrating their pay structures to remain competitive with global peers, particularly U.S. peers.
STI opportunity levels remained in line with 2024 (100% at median) with any real changes to maintain global competitiveness being reflected in the LTI. However, this year, a minority of SMI organizations increased short-term incentive (STI) payout levels with bonuses paid out at 125% of target (up from 105% in 2024).
While actual LTI vesting dropped to 112% of target (from 153% in 2024), there was an increase in the overall quantum of awards across the SMI. This ranged from an introduction of additional performance-based LTI programs, top-up grants for executive board members (notably, Partners Group Holding), raising the maximum payout on individual performance awards (e.g. UBS, from five to seven times fixed compensation for its CEO), to increased LTI targets for both the CEO and board, sometimes even offset by a reduction in base salary (notably Geberit, whose CEO base salary was reduced by 4% to recognize the increase in target LTI).
As in broader Europe, we observe a trend of Swiss companies adopting hybrid compensation models, blending European design with U.S.-style quantum, particularly for roles with significant U.S. market exposure or global talent competition.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) metrics are being reassessed, especially for companies with US federal (sub)contracts. Several SMI companies are planning to remove DEI metrics from incentive plans, not as a retreat but as a shift towards more meaningful, measurable, and transparent Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. Boards and investors are increasingly focused on the strategic materiality of ESG metrics, demanding clear links to company performance. The impact hereof will become more visible in 2026.
As for other organizations in Europe, market volatility has prompted SMI companies to consider adjusting incentive designs, with greater emphasis on financial and company-specific earning metrics to mitigate external factors affecting share prices. Total Shareholder Return (TSR), both absolute and relative, is under review, with some companies looking to reduce their weighting or revising peer groups. As with the evolving DEI and ESG metrics, the impact will become more visible in 2026. Adjusted financial targets are more prevalent, accounting for geopolitical events, currency fluctuations, and Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity.
Boards are also increasingly ensuring they retain discretionary authority to align payouts with performance and shareholder value.
The June 2026 EUPTD compliance deadline for EU Member States is driving preparation, with Swiss headquartered companies aligning frameworks centrally and executing locally.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive, though not legally binding in Switzerland, is influencing local practices. Large Swiss companies, in particular those with a significant EU-based population, are defining global principles for transparency, focusing on analytics and robust job architecture to mitigate equal pay claim risks.
Despite year-over-year stable voting outcomes on remuneration reports, proxy advisors (ISS, Glass Lewis) continue to raise concerns about disclosure, particularly regarding incentive outcomes and discretionary actions. Switzerland received a relatively high proportion of “against” recommendations, often due to insufficient disclosure or broad derogation clauses. Larger SMI companies such as Roche, Richemont, and Kuehne + Nagel were cited for lack of transparency or detail in their compensation reports.
Larger Swiss companies are clearly demonstrating agility and positioning themselves to meet future regulatory and market challenges in executive compensation.
These trends underscore the importance of transparency, and strategic alignment in executive pay practices as all Swiss companies prepare for future regulatory and market challenges. The challenge for companies now, is not only to keep pace with these evolving executive pay trends and regulatory expectations, but to ensure that reward strategies remain meaningful and aligned with business priorities.
At WTW, we go beyond the theory. We support companies with the foundation as well as strategic insights for informed decision making. Whether you are looking to decode complex regulatory requirements and stay ahead of market shifts, optimize your talent flow by pinpointing where your organization is gaining or losing critical skills, define the right peer groups that safeguard pay competitiveness, redesign incentive frameworks to balance performance, transparency and stakeholder expectations, or strengthen engagement with shareholders and proxy advisors, we can help deliver actionable insights that turn strategy into measurable impact.
Swiss companies are adapting their pay models to stay competitive globally, especially with increased international market exposure and evolving business needs.
