Even with rising food and fuel costs, and a less-than-rosy economic picture, salary increases are expected to remain flat for this year, according to a recent Mercer study.
According to the “2008/2009 U.S. Compensation Planning Survey,” American employers plan to award average pay increases of 3.7 percent in 2009, compared with 3.8 percent in 2008. Raises likely will be higher for top performers and well-performing industries, despite poor economic conditions.
The findings show that even though pay increase budgets remain flat, organizations are giving greater salary increases to their top-performing employees. For example, the high performers (14 percent of the workforce) are expected to receive base pay increases of 5.6 percent in 2009, compared to 3.3 percent for average performers (36 percent of the workforce), and .6 percent for the weakest performers (7 percent of the workforce).
The survey, which includes responses from more than 1,000 employers, reflects pay practices for more than 12 million workers.
To read more about the survey, click here.
Written by Jenny Cromie, certified human resources specialist (CHRS)
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