STEVE INSKEEP, Host: NPR's Scott Horsley reports.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: Mercer's Will Ferguson says companies are starting to treat executive stock grants as they would any other investment.</s>WILL FERGUSON: People are starting to look at it a little more closely and saying, am I really getting the bang for the buck here, in terms of how I'm spending this money?</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: What's more, CEO's with options could sometimes profit from a rising stock market, even if their own leadership was lacking. In contrast, Ferguson says many of the new compensation plans are based on a wider range of financial targets, and they don't necessarily reward CEO's who simply follow a rising tide.</s>WILL FERGUSON: So, for example, it's not just good enough to get to a certain level of return. You have to outperform your competitors to get an above-market kind of award.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: Some investors are skeptical, though, having heard this promise before. Managing director Alyssa Ellsworth, with the Council of Institutional Investors, says the new compensation plans are only as good as the financial targets they're pegged to.</s>ALYSSA ELLSWORTH: Pay for performance currently could mean anything to anyone. We've seen "pay for performance," quote/unquote, that's tied to increases in the amount of assets a company has, tied to, name it. Buying new construction sites. And so, what we often don't know is what that performance means.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: Scott Horsley, NPR News.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, Host: This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: And I'm Renee Montagne.
A growing number of companies are attaching conditions to chief executives' pay, requiring CEOs to meet specific performance targets.