Five-Year ESG LTI Award Tied to Performance Goals

 

Five-Year ESG LTI Award Tied to Performance Goals: Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) is a leading global water technology company with 2021 revenue of $5.2 billion and some 17,300 employees worldwide. Xylem designs, manufactures, and services highly engineered products and solutions across a wide variety of critical applications, primarily in the water sector and also in energy.

In its 2022 proxy, Xylem highlights its commitment and philosophy on sustainability:

“Xylem approaches sustainability as a way to generate economic value while also creating value for society. Accordingly, we leverage sustainability in our decision-making toward long-term value creation for our shareholders, customers, employees, and the communities in which we operate. Xylem is helping to create a water-secure world while creating economic and social value in the following three ways: Building a Sustainable Company, Empowering Communities, and Serving Our Customers.”

Xylem’s commitment to sustainability is further evidenced by the granting of a one-time special ESG long-term award based on five of Xylem’s 2025 sustainability goals. This special grant comprised 20% of total long-term incentive (LTI) compensation. Each measure is equally weighted at 20% and will be judged on a simple pass or fail at the end of a five-year performance in 2025.

Five Special ESG Award Measures

Xylem’s special grant is unique from other ESG programs that Farient has highlighted in our weekly ESG Spotlights. While most companies have introduced ESG measures into existing programs, often as part of the short-term incentive (STI)  award, Xylem is focusing on executives using a one-time long-term award with a five-year measurement period. The time frame for this award is also unusual when compared to common practice. This special grant serves to highlight the longer-term ESG goals, aligning awards to the same time frame.

About Farient Advisors

Farient Advisors LLC is an independent premier executive compensation, performance, and corporate governance consultancy. Farient provides a full array of services, linking business strategy to compensation through a tailored, analytically rigorous, and collaborative approach. Farient has locations in Los Angeles, New York, Louisville, and Dallas and works with clients globally through its partnership in the Global Governance and Executive Compensation Group (GECN). Farient is a certified diverse company and is recognized by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.