As salary and financial trends have predicted that employers will disperse raises and bonuses by the end of the year, companies are looking for ways to manage the increase in compensation tracking. For example, one sector experiencing compensation growth is the hospital industry, where CEOs and other high-ranking executives are moving toward long-term incentive plans, according to a Hay Group 2014 U.S. Salary Planning Report. CEOs and other top executives experienced the highest base salary increases across all employee groups in 2013. That group saw a base median salary increase of 4 percent for nonprofit integrated health systems and 3 percent for CEOs at non-hospital systems. The use of incentive compensation structures are at their highest level since the Hay Group started following salary trends in 2006, with results showing 39 percent of facilities use incentive pay plans, a 22 percent increase from 2012. The report also found 63 percent ok larger companies, typically those with more than $5 billion in revenue, offered employees long-term incentive plans this year. Projected salary patterns also show consistency among salary budget increases, salary structure increases and merit increases across the board, all predicting raises. However, companies that plan to continue to utilize merit increases into 2014 have shown the highest projected salary increases, with an average of 2.5 percent. The lowest salary increases in the top 200 industries is expected to stem from salary structure changes and average 1.3-1.9 percent for all employee levels. According to data compiled in a recent Ventana Research study from general market industry trends, the majority of employers who scheduled pay increases for 2013, are budgeting for larger increases during 2014. As the number of industries using incentive compensation structures rises, so does the need for an efficient and reliable system in which to manage them. Although the study is not limited to health care, other general findings from the study indicated that effective use of incentive compensation software (ICM) just may be the solution. Sales compensation study In order to meet the growing demands of ICM software and best sales compensation management practices, Ventana Research released a Sales Compensation Management study. The research will draw out baseline data to support the benefits of sales compensation management software and how companies will address the incentives involved as part of compensation. After acquiring the report, companies will have solid data and a comprehensive set of best practices they can integrate and apply to their own ICM structures in order to stay competitive in the market and retain top talent. If you’re looking for a way to optimize your salary and compensation process, Iconixx offers an all-in-one salary planning software solution called Iconixx Merit™.
