Wudyka, who is founder and managing principal of Westminster Associates, a Wrentham, MA based, full-service HR and compensation consultancy, forecast the following trends at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR.
1. Fewer Salary Freezes
The number of employers freezing salaries continues to decline:
- 32 percent froze salaries in 2009.
- 12 percent did so in 2010.
- Only 5 percent are expected to follow suit in 2011.
2. Variable Pay Challenges
The danger is that variable pay plans can create an expectation in the minds of employees, turning into a fixed compensation expense. So that’s a big challenge for communication: how to keep employees aware that these plans go up and down, Wudyka says.
3. A Sharper Focus on Retention
In 2011, 84 percent of employees say they plan to search for a new job in the new year, according to a Dec. 2010 nationwide survey by Manpower. The reasons given range from heavier workloads and skimpy raises to job burnout and fewer opportunities for advancement.
Wudyka is skeptical about that 84% figure, but still suggests that this is a good time to strengthen or establish retention programs.
Employers need to focus not just on salary increases, but on other types of incentives, as well as rewards/recognitions and non-cash options—to retain their key talent.
Compensation.BLR.com, now thoroughly revamped with easier navigation and more complete compensation information, will tell you what’s being paid right in your state—or even metropolitan area—for hundreds of jobs. Try it at no cost and get a complimentary special report. Download Now.
4. More Long-Term Incentives
Once the province of much larger public companies, multi-year variable pay plans are now seen more frequently in mid-range and growth companies of all types, says Wudyka.
In 2011 and beyond, more employers will use this tool to replace or supplement meager salary increases and annual incentive bonuses and to exert more pay-for-performance control over key employees.
5. Hiring Opportunities
A lot of talented people are unemployed, and that means there’s an opportunity to hire people who are good at what they do and eager for job.
What’s the bottom line for compensation in the next year? It’s not going to be easy. Management says maintain equity and competitiveness, control turnover, and do it with less. To meet that challenge, many of the professionals we serve have found the answers to all their compensation questions at Compensation.BLR.com, BLR’s comprehensive compensation website.
And there’s great news: The site has just been revamped in two important ways. First, compliance focus information has been updated to include the latest on COBRA, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and FMLA. Second, user features are enhanced to make the site even quicker to respond to your particular needs:
- Topics Navigator—Lets you drill down by topical areas to get to the right data fast.
- Customizable Homepage—Configure it to display whatever content you want to see most often.
- Menu Navigation—Displays all of the main content areas and tools that you need in a simple, easy format.
- Quick Links—Enable you to quickly navigate to all the new and updated content areas.
The services provided by this unique tool include:
- Localized Salary Finder. Based on reliable research among thousands of employers, here are pay scales (including 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles) for hundreds of commonly held jobs, from line worker to president of the company. The data are customized for your state and metro area, your industry, and your company size, so you can base your salaries on what’s offered in your specific market, not nationally.
Try BLR’s all-in-one compensation website, Compensation.BLR.com, and get a complimentary special report, Top 100 FLSA Overtime Q&As, no matter what you decide. Download Now.
- State and Federal Wage-Hour and Other Legal Advice. Plain-English explanations of wage-hour and other compensation and benefits-related law at both federal and state levels. “State” means the laws of your state because the site is customized to your use. (Other states can be added at a modest, extra charge.)
- Job Descriptions. The website provides them by the hundreds, already written, legally reviewed, and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandate that essential job functions be separated from those less critical. All descriptions carry employment grade levels to current norms—another huge time-saver.
- Merit Increase, Salary, and Benefits Surveys. The service includes the results of three surveys a year. Results for exempt and nonexempt employees are reported separately.
- Performance Appraisal Wizard. Takes the “dreaded” out of performance appraisal.
- Weekly Ezine and Best Practices Advice. Comp and benefits news updated daily (as is the whole site).
- “Ask the Experts” Service. E-mail a question to our editors and get a personalized response within 1 business day.
If we sound as if we’re high on the program, it’s because we are. For about $3 a working day, the help it offers to those with compensation responsibilities is enormous.
This one’s definitely worth a look, which you can get by clicking the links below.
Click here to get more information or start a no-cost trial and get a complimentary special report!
If you have been around HR for a many years as I have you will remember that in about 1959, one of the most popular theories of motivation was Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation – Hygiene theory. This theory professed that salary was not a motivator but the lack of was a part of his Factors for Dissatisfaction and not a Factor for Satisfaction. Herzberg “concluded that such factors as company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary are hygiene factors rather than motivators. According to the theory, the absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create satisfaction.”