The CEO of Europe's most valuable company says he is tying his pay to employee satisfaction

The CEO of Europe's most precious company is linking his pay to a individual goal to boost employee morale.

Christophe Fouquet, the CEO of Dutch tech resolute ASML, stated final week that the business volition merge employee fulfillment into its compensation scheme for top executives in an attempt to quell discontent complete a important reorganization, per a memo to workforce obtained exclusively by Business Insider.

Fouquet was responding to the results of an annual study that polled additional than 38,000 of ASML's approximately 44,000 employees.

The study results, seen by Business Insider, display that ASML's employee involvement indicator — a measure of employee fulfillment — cut from 78% final twelvemonth to 73.5% this year.

In the memo, Fouquet stated that the declining employee involvement scores "reflect a duration of important change" and acknowledged that it had been a "disruptive and affectional year" for the company.

He added that ASML's administrator squad had highlighted six questions in the study and blended them into a new Workplace Experience Index, which would be unified into the company's Long-Term Incentive scheme for administrator compensation.

"In the coming years, it volition immediately power the remuneration of elder leaders, including the Board of Management," Fouquet wrote, adding that strengthening the company's civilization and reinforcing its values would be a individual precedence in the coming year.

ASML declined to comment.

The six questions contain whether workforce awareness they can portion their opinions without fear of retaliation and if they have confidence in ASML's elder guidance team.

Employees volition additionally be polled on whether they have a apparent understanding of their role, whether they think their teams are functioning efficiently and are fine organized, and whether they awareness their straightforward director shows they attention concerning them as an individual.

It comes as ASML, the lone resolute on the earth capable of construction the advanced EUV lithography machines crucial for chipmakers akin TSMC and Intel, attempts to slash bureaucracy alongside a sweeping org diagram reorganization.

ASML announced in January that it could cut 1,700 jobs to decrease administration layers and concentration on engineering. Leaked documents earlier reported by Business Insider display that these ongoing efforts have focused on reducing the figure of managers at the company. The business afterward stated it expected to cut small jobs than initially planned.

Going against tech's 'hardcore' trend

Major companies tying administrator pay to employee fulfillment is uncommon, but not unheard of.

Companies akin IBM and Aviva have earlier included employee involvement in their compensation targets for top executives.

ASML's decision, however, runs oppose to the traditional winds of Big Tech, which have seen several companies embark on relentless layoffs and shove workforce to activity longer hours as part of a "hardcore" operating shift.

Meta was an early, prominent leader of this push, with a sequence of layoffs that began in 2023 during Mark Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency" and, final year, cutting "low performers." CTO Andrew Bosworth at one item suggested that workforce who disagreed alongside the company's direction should "consider operating elsewhere."

Executives have since acknowledged internally that Meta went too far alongside its effectiveness push, alongside Bosworth telling workers that morale at the company was nearly the worst it has always been.

Fouquet's memo to workforce came days before ASML raised its 2026 revenue forecast and pledged to accelerate manufacturing of its distinctive lithography machines as the AI surge fuels surging demand.

The company's machines are critical for producing the advanced semiconductors used to train and run AI models, and the fast buildout of AI data centers has pushed ASML's shares up 45% this year.

One important prospective client for the Dutch resolute is Elon Musk, who is racing to build a enormous semiconductor factory dubbed "Terafab" in Texas. Business Insider earlier reported that Musk gave a virtual presentation to a personal ASML employee gathering in June to throw Terafab, which is a shared project by Tesla and SpaceX.

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