CenturyLink 2015 Annual Report Download - page 52

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III. Our Compensation Program Objectives and Components of Pay
Our Compensation Practices
To assist us in achieving our broad compensation goals, we apply the following practices (many of which
are described further elsewhere in this Compensation Discussion and Analysis):
What We Do…
• Focus on performance-based compensation weighted heavily towards long-term equity awards
• Maintain robust stock ownership guidelines applicable to our executive officers and outside directors
• Annually review our compensation programs to avoid encouraging excessively risky behavior
• Conduct annual “say-on-pay” votes
• Periodically seek input on our executive compensation from shareholders
• Maintain a compensation “clawback” policy
• Review the composition of our peer groups annually
• Benchmark against 50th percentile peer compensation levels
• Conduct independent and intensive performance reviews of our senior officers
• Limit the maximum number of performance shares to vest if our total shareholder return is negative
• Review realizable pay of our senior officers and total compensation “tally” sheets
• Require shareholders to approve any future severance agreements valued at more than 2.99 times the
executive’s target cash compensation
• Impose compensation forfeiture covenants broader than those mandated by law
What We Don’t Do…
• Enter into employment agreements with our executives
• Maintain a supplemental executive retirement plan
• Permit our directors or employees to hedge our stock, or our directors or senior officers to pledge our
stock
• Pay dividends on unvested restricted stock
• Permit the Compensation Committee’s compensation consultant to provide other services to
CenturyLink
• Pay, provide or permit:
(i) excessive perquisites,
(ii) excise tax “gross-up” payments, or
(iii) single-trigger change of control equity acceleration benefits.
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