ON TUESDAY July 27th BP announced its chief executive, Tony Hayward, was stepping down after just three years in the job. He leaves with a year's salary, £1m ($1.6m), and a pension reported to be worth £11m, accrued over 28 years of service. On the same day the company revealed a quarterly loss of £17 billion, reflecting the cost of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr Hayward has received criticism over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon spill. For all the opprobrium heaped on him over the last few months, Mr Hayward's payout is modest compared with those enjoyed by many similarly high-profile bosses.