There’s good news and bad news to be found in the results of HRHero.com’s 2011 Compensation Survey. The good news is that last year 32 percent of respondents said they were going to have a wage freeze in 2010, but this year only 21 percent say they are planning to have a wage freeze in the coming year.
Our recent survey also shows that 43 percent of respondents are planning to give raises in 2011, compared to just 36.43 percent of last year’s respondents who expected to give raises in 2010. The bad news is that wage freezes and layoffs are still a common issue for many organizations.
Each year, HRHero.com surveys readers to find out what your compensation plans are for the coming year and about year-end bonuses. Through 2008, we called it our “Raises Survey.” Since raises were the last thing on everyone’s mind by the end of 2008 but wage and hour issues were front and center, we renamed it the “Compensation Survey” and added questions and possible answers about issues such as wage freezes and layoffs.
Our last question on the survey asks what readers expect to be their biggest issue at the end of next year. It’s the same question we asked at the end of 2009 as well. Compensation and retaining your best employees were at the forefront last year and continue to be this year. But the issue seems to be getting more complicated and more difficult to deal with. Some of the challenges mentioned include:
- workers who have been with the company for several years have been living with wage freezes, but new hires are coming in at higher rates;
- wage ranges haven’t been adjusted, and many longtime workers have hit the top of the range and have no hope for any sort of pay increase; and
- highly skilled workers, such as IT employees, who have been at companies with wage freezes are finding other job opportunities with companies that are growing.
What struck me as I read readers’ responses to the survey was that many of you seem to be struggling with what you thought at the time would be temporary compensation policies or decisions but that now have been in place for a year or two — or even longer — and with no end in sight. It sounds like there is now an urgency to start sorting out the issues these “temporary” policies and decisions have caused even though for many organizations there is no extra money to increase pay.
Read the 2011 Compensation Survey results
Next month, we’ll follow up on this theme with our annual benefits survey. We’d love to hear your ideas for questions that you would like to ask other HR and business professionals about compensation and benefits. We’ll consider them for inclusion in our surveys.