Shell shareholders are revolting!

Readers of HR Case Studies will already be aware that there have been a number of pay protests at company annual meetings in recent months, raising concerns over the level of executive remuneration including excessive bonuses.

Shareholders have made their feelings known at the annual general meetings of Royal Bank of Scotland, BP and Shell.

It will be interesting to see how Royal Bank of Scotland and BP respond to the example set by Royal Dutch Shell now that they have announced their decision to freeze the pay of  top management following a shareholder revolt last year. In May 2009, 60% of Shell's shareholders voted against its remuneration report at its annual meeting.

Consequently, today, Shell has the salaries for its chief executive and chief financial officer are being frozen until 2011. The company said it wanted to "demonstrate appropriate restraint in the current economic environment".

Shell will also award bonuses based on how well projects are delivered, rather than its previous measure of total shareholder return.

BBC: Shell freezes pay for top managers after revolt

Over to you RBS! Let's see if you follow suit!