Target's Gregg Steinhafel

Target's Gregg Steinhafel

Perks: $5.52 million

Target (TGT) CEO Gregg Steinhafel worked his way up to CEO in 2008, after joining the company in 1979. But now that he's on top, Target shareholders may wish they had a Target REDcard Rewards five per cent discount for his perks and pay.

Steinhafel topped the charts for overall perks last year, at more than $5.5 million. Most of that was a $5 million contribution to a supplemental pension plan. You'd think he could cover his own retirement, since he got $23.9 million and $19.7 million in pay in 2010 and 2011, or more than twice the average for CEOs at large companies.

In contrast, Target retail workers get a median of about $8.68 an hour according to PayScale. (Read Payscale's report on Target.) Assuming a 40-hour week and two weeks' vacation all around, that makes for an enormous CEO-worker pay multiple of 570 at Target. That compares with a multiple of 231 at the 350 biggest companies in the U.S., according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.

Besides the generous pension contribution, Steinhafel's perks included personal use of the company jet, reimbursement for the cost of his spouse's travel on business trips, an exercise room, parking, home security, a company car or car allowance and unspecified gifts.

Target's executive comp and perquisites are "market competitive and are designed to attract, retain and motivate a premier management team," says a Target spokeswoman. She also notes that 84 per cent of shareholders who voted in 2012 approved Target's executive pay, in part because it aligns executive interests with those of shareholders.

At the time of publication, Michael Brush owned or controlled shares of the following company mentioned in this slide show: Coca-Cola.  Brush is the editor of Brush Up on Stocks, an investment newsletter.