Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Tweet[IWS] Mercer: COMPENSATION OUTLOOK MIXED: PAY INCREASES & CUTS DEPENDING ON JOB [1 June 2009]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Mercer
Compensation outlook is mixed as companies plan pay increases for some jobs, plan to cut pay for others [1 June 2009]
http://www.mercer.com/summary.htm?idContent=1348785
United States
New York , 1 June 2009
While companies remain focused on managing their human capital investment in the current economy, pay across jobs is becoming less consistent. Median total cash compensation (base salary and annual incentive) has increased year-over-year among some jobs and decreased for others, according to Mercer's Market Pulse Report.
Positions in manufacturing, information technology and engineering show increases up to 2.0 percent compared to positions in marketing, finance and sales showing declines in pay. A similar variation in pay occurs among employee groups. For example, median total cash compensation for professionals has increased by almost 2.0 percent while it has decreased by nearly 5.0 percent for executives. See Tables 1 and 2.
Mercer's Market Pulse Report, which provides early indicators of market movement within the 2009 US Mercer Benchmark Database, is based on data from more that 640 organizations from a wide range of industries.
"While salary increases overall are relatively low, certain jobs are bucking the trend with increases nearly twice the rate of the overall market," said Susan Haberman, Mercer's US regional leader for information product solutions. "Organizations are paying more for these positions since they support company-specific needs."
On the whole, median total cash compensation increases year-over-year are just about half that of base salary increases (1.2 percent vs. 2.2 percent, respectively) across all jobs, industries and geographies. According to Ms. Haberman, executive and management positions are seeing the smallest increases in pay.
Base pay
Having trimmed workforces and decreased hours with a corresponding reduction in pay, many companies continue to struggle with cost-containment challenges and are budgeting pay levels accordingly. For those employees (67 percent) receiving a base pay increase, salary budgets for 2009 are projected to be 3.2 percent on average for employees overall.
While fewer executives (56 percent) are expected to receive base bay increases compared to more than 70 percent of office/clerical/technician and trades/production/service employees these increases will be slightly higher. For those who receive increases, executives are expected to receive base pay adjusted up 3.5 percent in 2009 compared to increases of 3.1 percent for the employee categories of office/clerical/technician and trades/production/service. See Table 3.
These early findings from Mercer's 2009/2010 US Compensation Planning Survey include responses from approximately 850 organizations across the US as of April, 2009.
"In response to the recession, employers have reduced staff for certain positions and placed higher value and greater expectations on other roles critical to the business," said Steve Gross, global leader of Mercer's broad-based performance and rewards consulting business. "This shift has led to greater variability in pay levels among job types, lines of business or geographies as companies allocate limited compensation budgets appropriately."
Salary freezes
According to Mercer's survey, slightly more than two-thirds (67 percent) of organizations are planning to grant pay increases to all employees in 2009 and 88 percent are projecting to do so in 2010.
Executives will fair the worst in terms of salary freezes. Survey findings show 44 percent of organizations are planning to freeze salaries for executives in 2009 and 15 percent the following year, compared to 28 percent and 11 percent, respectively, for office/production/service staff.
Mr. Gross said, "Companies realize that they need to be poised for a turnaround and continuing cost-cutting measures like layoffs and salary freezes may put them at a disadvantage once the economy recovers."
Includes the following tables:
Table 1: Year-over-year changes in total cash compensation by job function
Table 2: Year-over-year changes in total cash compensation by employee group
Table 3: 2009/2010 budgeted base pay increases by employee group
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Mercer
Compensation outlook is mixed as companies plan pay increases for some jobs, plan to cut pay for others [1 June 2009]
http://www.mercer.com/summary.htm?idContent=1348785
United States
New York , 1 June 2009
While companies remain focused on managing their human capital investment in the current economy, pay across jobs is becoming less consistent. Median total cash compensation (base salary and annual incentive) has increased year-over-year among some jobs and decreased for others, according to Mercer's Market Pulse Report.
Positions in manufacturing, information technology and engineering show increases up to 2.0 percent compared to positions in marketing, finance and sales showing declines in pay. A similar variation in pay occurs among employee groups. For example, median total cash compensation for professionals has increased by almost 2.0 percent while it has decreased by nearly 5.0 percent for executives. See Tables 1 and 2.
Mercer's Market Pulse Report, which provides early indicators of market movement within the 2009 US Mercer Benchmark Database, is based on data from more that 640 organizations from a wide range of industries.
"While salary increases overall are relatively low, certain jobs are bucking the trend with increases nearly twice the rate of the overall market," said Susan Haberman, Mercer's US regional leader for information product solutions. "Organizations are paying more for these positions since they support company-specific needs."
On the whole, median total cash compensation increases year-over-year are just about half that of base salary increases (1.2 percent vs. 2.2 percent, respectively) across all jobs, industries and geographies. According to Ms. Haberman, executive and management positions are seeing the smallest increases in pay.
Base pay
Having trimmed workforces and decreased hours with a corresponding reduction in pay, many companies continue to struggle with cost-containment challenges and are budgeting pay levels accordingly. For those employees (67 percent) receiving a base pay increase, salary budgets for 2009 are projected to be 3.2 percent on average for employees overall.
While fewer executives (56 percent) are expected to receive base bay increases compared to more than 70 percent of office/clerical/technician and trades/production/service employees these increases will be slightly higher. For those who receive increases, executives are expected to receive base pay adjusted up 3.5 percent in 2009 compared to increases of 3.1 percent for the employee categories of office/clerical/technician and trades/production/service. See Table 3.
These early findings from Mercer's 2009/2010 US Compensation Planning Survey include responses from approximately 850 organizations across the US as of April, 2009.
"In response to the recession, employers have reduced staff for certain positions and placed higher value and greater expectations on other roles critical to the business," said Steve Gross, global leader of Mercer's broad-based performance and rewards consulting business. "This shift has led to greater variability in pay levels among job types, lines of business or geographies as companies allocate limited compensation budgets appropriately."
Salary freezes
According to Mercer's survey, slightly more than two-thirds (67 percent) of organizations are planning to grant pay increases to all employees in 2009 and 88 percent are projecting to do so in 2010.
Executives will fair the worst in terms of salary freezes. Survey findings show 44 percent of organizations are planning to freeze salaries for executives in 2009 and 15 percent the following year, compared to 28 percent and 11 percent, respectively, for office/production/service staff.
Mr. Gross said, "Companies realize that they need to be poised for a turnaround and continuing cost-cutting measures like layoffs and salary freezes may put them at a disadvantage once the economy recovers."
Includes the following tables:
Table 1: Year-over-year changes in total cash compensation by job function
Table 2: Year-over-year changes in total cash compensation by employee group
Table 3: 2009/2010 budgeted base pay increases by employee group
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 3:43 PM
