Other key survey findings include:

In 2019, 66 percent of organizations agree or strongly agree that retention is a top concern, which is similar to last year. In 2019, 82 percent of organizations gave base pay increases, with 3 percent being the most prominent increase given, which is also similar to last year. Eighty-five percent of organizations plan to give base increases in 2020.
Employers are continuing to employ a variety of tactics to attract and retain top talent. These include merit-based pay (60 percent), learning and development (57 percent), discretionary bonuses (34 percent), and more perks (26 percent).
The majority of employers (57 percent) have completed a salary market data study at least once in the last 12 months. The majority (52 percent) also reference market data for individual job titles at least twice to year; 17 percent did so monthly, 14 percent did so weekly, and 6 percent do so daily. Eighty-four percent of organizations use more than two data sources and 4 percent used more than five data sources.
Employers are continuing to offer standard benefits in high percentages, such as medical, dental and vision insurance (78 percent), retirement contributions via a 401K or 403B (73 percent) and accrued or granted PTO (60 percent). However, more atypical benefits are also being offered and have grown in popularity. For example, remote work is now offered by 48 percent. Education or tuition reimbursement is offered by 45 percent of employers and flex-time is offered by 39 percent. Paid parental leave is also growing in popularity at 38 percent. Unlimited PTO, which is still unusual, has grown to 11 percent.
Top-performing employers, defined as those who exceeded their revenue goals in 2019, offer higher base pay increases as well as more varied incentive pay, such as company-wide bonuses, profit sharing, and employee referral bonuses in addition to individual incentive bonuses. Top performers are more likely to have a dedicated compensation team, conduct a full market study on compensation and use both third-party survey data as well as paid subscription data.
Top-performing employers are also better communicators about pay decisions and offer manager training on compensation basics in higher percentages than non-top performing organizations.

"Top performers are also more likely to provide more benefits, especially tangible benefits, and agree that employees know how to get to the next level of their career within their organization," PayScale writes. "Finally, top performers were more likely to ensure they are part of their organization's strategic decision-making processes."

Instant Insights /

Employers rethinking compensation strategies to recruit, retain workers

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