By Marc Rosenberg
Partner Comp: Art & Science
“If people are concerned about their absolute level of compensation, then they can be satisfied. However, if their focus is on relative standing, then they can never be satisfied.”
– Andrew Grove, former chairman, Intel
An open compensation system is one in which all partners know the earnings of all partners.
MORE ON PARTNER COMPENSATION: 5 Other Systems for Paying Partners | 3 Non-Performance-Based Comp Systems | 3 Subjective Compensation Systems | Partner Compensation 101 | How Partners View Compensation: It’s Not All about the Money | Why Most Partner Comp Systems Are Performance-Based
A closed system is one in which a limited number of partners are privy to this information. In closed systems, the only partners with access to all partners’ income are usually the managing partner, the compensation committee and/or the executive committee.