Symantec 2008 Annual Report Download - page 56

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND RELATED INFORMATION
COMPENSATION DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS (CD&A)
INTRODUCTION
Our Compensation Philosophy
Our executive compensation programs are intended to further our success as a market leader in the information
technology industry. In structuring and overseeing these programs, we focus on achievement of corporate and
individual performance objectives, attracting and retaining highly-qualified senior leadership, and enhancement of
long-term stockholder value.
A number of principles and circumstances inform our executive compensation decisions. We believe that we
have an excellent executive management team and recognize that that team plays a critical role in enabling us to
achieve superior Company performance. An important principle driving our compensation programs is our belief
that it benefits all our constituencies for management’s compensation to be tied to the Company’s current and long-
term performance. As a result, at-risk pay comprises a significant portion of our executive compensation, in
particular for individuals holding more senior and influential positions at Symantec.
We believe it is important to continue to attract, appropriately motivate and retain highly-qualified executives
who are energetically committed to Symantec’s success. We look to relevant market and industry practices to
structure compensation packages that are competitive in the markets in which we compete for executive talent.
While we strive for a basic level of internal pay equity among our management team members, we also believe that
it is important to reward outstanding individual performance, team success, and Company-wide results.
We are also sensitive to our need to balance the interests of our executives with those of our stockholders,
especially when our compensation decisions might increase our cost structure or stockholder dilution. We work
hard to appropriately balance the interests of all our constituencies — our executive officers, the remainder of our
employee base, our stockholders, our business partners and our community.
Summary of Compensation Matters During Fiscal 2008
Fiscal 2008 was a successful year for the company during which we achieved strong performance on the core
financial metrics linked to our executive compensation programs — revenue, earnings per share and cash flow from
operations. Our executive officers were compensated consistent with our pay-for-results compensation philosophy
and in keeping with the terms of our compensation arrangements. Specifically, as discussed more fully below, we
exceeded our revenue and EPS targets under our Executive Annual Incentive Plan and our cash flow from
operations target under our FY08 Long Term Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”).
Roles of Our Compensation Committee, Executive Officers and Consultants in our Compensation Process
The Committee, which is comprised of independent directors, establishes and oversees the overall strategy for
employee compensation, including our executive compensation programs. For more details about the Committee’s
functions and additional information about Committee members, see the “Corporate Governance Standards and
Director Independence” section (beginning on page 5) and the “Board Committees and Their Functions” section
(beginning on page 7).
The Committee is responsible for overseeing all of the Company’s compensation programs, including general
employee and Board of Director compensation. This CD&A describes how the Committee approached and fulfilled
that responsibility in fiscal 2008 with respect to our named executive officers, or NEOs. For fiscal 2008, our NEOs
who remained executive officers of Symantec at the end of the year were:
• John W. Thompson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• Enrique T. Salem, Chief Operating Officer
• James A. Beer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
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