sustained and in-depth scrutiny from shareholders and regulators, continue to put pressure on compensation committees to appropriately evaluate and justify each element of compensation. The slowly recovering U.S. economy and employers¿ efforts to control employee benefits and compensation have added another layer of pressure on executive compensation. In recent years, health
care and retirement benefi ts for the broad-based population as well as executive benefi ts have been a major focus for employers. Employers are addressing the increase in employee health care costs through a combination of aggressive program management, increased employee cost sharing and other design changes, especially in light