Waste Management 2015 Annual Report Download - page 29

• the Company has clawback provisions in its equity award agreements and recent employment
agreements, and has adopted a clawback policy applicable to annual incentive compensation, designed to
recoup compensation when cause and/or misconduct are found;
• our executive officer severance policy implemented a limitation on the amount of benefits the Company
may provide to its executive officers under severance agreements entered into after the date of such
policy; and
• the Company has adopted a policy that prohibits it from entering into new agreements with executive
officers that provide for certain death benefits or tax gross-up payments.
2015 Company Performance and Compensation Results
We recognize that the waste industry is changing, and we believe we are uniquely equipped to meet the
challenges of our industry and our customers’ waste management needs, both today and as we work together to
envision and create a more sustainable future. As the waste industry leader, we have the expertise necessary to
collect and handle our customers’ waste efficiently and responsibly by delivering environmental performance —
maximizing resource value, while minimizing environmental impact — so that both our economy and our
environment can thrive. Drawing on our resources and experience, we also pursue projects and initiatives that
benefit the waste industry, the customers and communities we serve and the environment.
We remain dedicated to providing long-term value to our stockholders by successfully executing our
strategy: to know and service our customers better than anyone in our industry, to extract more value from the
materials we manage, and to innovate and optimize our business. We plan to accomplish our strategic goals
through competitive advantages derived from operational improvements and focused differentiation in our
industry, driven by capitalizing on our extensive, well-placed network of assets. While we will continue to
monitor emerging diversion technologies that may generate additional value, our current attention will be on
improving existing diversion technologies such as our recycling operations. We believe that execution of our
strategy will drive continued performance and leadership in a dynamic industry.
In 2015, we generated strong earnings and cash flow growth from our solid waste business by continuing a
disciplined focus on revenue growth and cost control. These results were driven by strong core pricing in each
line of business; controlling costs of both our operations and corporate functions; improving customer experience
by differentiating our service offerings to reduce customer churn; maintaining discipline around capital spending;
and implementing a more rational and sustainable framework for recycling operations as an integrated
component of solid waste services. Another priority we successfully pursued in 2015 was the investment of cash
proceeds from the divestiture of our Wheelabrator business in late 2014 to support our strategic growth plans. As
we look forward to 2016, our key priorities will remain the same — driving revenue growth from yield,
maintaining our commitment to provide excellent customer service and improving our productivity while
managing our costs. We believe that continued execution of these objectives will translate into earnings and cash
flow growth, leaving us well positioned to continue investing in our business, pay dividends and repurchase
shares, while continuing our commitment to maintain a strong balance sheet.
In line with the Company’s financial results, the following is a summary of the 2015 compensation program
results:
• the Company granted increases to the base salaries of named executive officers consistent with our
compensation philosophy and driven by competitive market data, internal pay equity considerations and
individual performance;
• Company performance on annual cash incentive performance measures for named executive officers
exceeded the target level for one of the three performance measures, was at target for one of the three
performance measures and was below target but above threshold for the third performance measure. As a
result, each of the named executives received an annual cash incentive payment for fiscal year 2015 equal
to 108.5% of target;
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