Survey Finds Majority of Employers Plan To Give Raises in 2011

In a sign of improving conditions and confidence, 86 percent of the employers participating in the Rochester Business Alliance's annual Rochester Area Pay Trends Survey say they are planning increases for some or all employees in 2011. That's up from 62 percent a year earlier.

On the flip side, only 11 percent said they were projecting a wage freeze of pay reductions in the coming year, down from 38 percent a year ago.

"As the recovery continues, businesses are shifting focus toward retaining employees and attracting new talent," said Sandy Parker, president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance. "Companies are planning pay adjustments that help ensure they remain competitive in attracting and retaining talent, and also benefit employees by helping offset the cost of living, including ever-increasing health insurance premiums."

This year's survey reflects the responses of 161 member companies, representing 67,400 employees. Participating companies are comprised of both large and small businesses from a broad cross-section of industries, and include some of the area's top employers such as Eastman Kodak Co., Wegmans Food Markets, and Rochester General Health System.

According to the survey, local employers are budgeting for a projected pay increase of 3.2 percent in 2011. A year ago, employers projected average increases of 3.1 percent, but this most recent survey found that raises ended up slightly higher than predicted. Those companies that actually gave increases between August 2009 and July 2010, the average was 3.2 percent.

Local projections for 2011 raises are a bit higher than national projections of 2.9 percent reported in a recent survey completed by WorldatWork.

Broken down by sector, local non-manufacturing organizations are budgeting for slightly lower increases (3.0 percent) than manufacturers (3.6 percent), while for profit organizations are budgeting for an average increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2.8 percent for not-for-profits.

The Pay Trends Survey, conducted annually by the Rochester Business Alliance's Training and Business Information Services department, provides member companies with a tool for benchmarking their budgeted wage and salary adjustments against the local marketplace. It is one of many annual wage, benefits, and human resource practice surveys conducted by the Rochester Business Alliance each year.