“Rubbery and unclear” incentives that tie executive pay at Woolworths to customer satisfaction and reputation are clearly not working to maintain social licence, says one of the country’s most influential proxy advisory groups.

Amid a growing political and customer focus on shelf prices and profit margins, Institutional Shareholder Services’ Vas Kolesnikoff, who advises large investors how to vote their shares around pay structures and board appointments, said the supermarket boards should reconsider their remuneration targets.