Paylocity CEO Toby Williams Took Home $23.5 Million, 228 Times The Median Employee

Williams' fiscal 2026 pay rose from $18.0 million as a $100 stock investment shrank to $54.79 against $100.18 for peers.

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Paylocity CEO Toby Williams Took Home $23.5 Million, 228 Times The Median Employee

Paylocity CEO Toby Williams was paid $23,473,564 for fiscal 2026, up from $18,044,482 a year earlier, according to the company's annual proxy filing on Thursday. The payroll and HR software maker's stock lagged its peer group over the same stretch, and the board is asking holders to approve a bigger equity plan.

228 times the median worker

Paylocity makes cloud software that runs payroll, HR, finance and IT work from one platform, serving about 44,400 US clients as of June 30, 2026. The proxy puts the median employee's pay at $102,756, so Williams' package works out to a ratio of 228:1, the company estimated.

Most of Williams' pay was stock: $21,557,447 in awards, plus a $1,072,267 cash bonus and a $744,630 base salary for the year. The annual bonus paid out at 144% of target, with adjusted EBITDA (a profit measure) at the maximum and revenue above target.

The committee also gave Williams a $5.0 million, two-year vesting stock award this year, saying his March 2022 promotion grants were lower than typical for newly hired executives in comparable roles.

Pay up, stock behind peers

The proxy's pay-versus-performance table shows Compensation Actually Paid to Williams, a measure that tracks changes in equity value, at $145,214 for fiscal 2026, against $28,295,857 the year before. A $100 investment in Paylocity stock was worth $54.79, compared with $100.18 for the peer group.

The pay committee noted that relative stock performance for the fiscal 2023 cycle landed at the 30th percentile, so executives earned 35% of target on those stock awards.

Chief Sales Officer Joshua Scutt received $94,504 in commuting expenses plus $57,984 in tax gross-ups on them. Chief Client Officer Andrew Cappotelli's pay includes $48,852 for home security installation and monitoring.

A Paylocity subsidiary, Blue Marble Payroll, paid about $1,128,000 to Payescape, a UK payroll provider in which founder and director Steven Sarowitz is a significant stockholder. The audit committee approved it, along with about $326,000 paid to BlackRock for investment management.

The December 3 vote

Holders vote at the annual meeting on December 3 on four board proposals, none from shareholders: nine directors, KPMG as auditor, a non-binding vote on executive pay, and the Second Amended and Restated 2023 Equity Incentive Plan. The board recommends voting for all of them.

The board shrinks from ten to nine directors effective that day, as Craig Conway is not standing for reelection.

Holders will get their say on both executive pay and the larger equity plan at the December 3 meeting.

Sources