Employers Expect to Give Modest Raises Again in 2012

Among employers participating in the Rochester Business Alliance's annual Rochester Area Pay Trends Survey, 85 percent said they are planning increases for some or all employees in 2012.

On the flip side, only 8 percent said they were projecting a wage freeze or pay reductions in the coming year, down from 11 percent a year ago.

"Providing pay increases is a tried-and-true way to reward your workforce, retain your existing talent and establish yourself as place that can attract new talent," said Sandy Parker, president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance. "In setting these raises, employers balance their desire to remain competitive in the hiring market with their wish to benefit employees by helping offset the cost of living - including ever-increasing health insurance premiums- as well as their need to keep it affordable for their business."

This year's survey reflects the responses of 159 RBA member companies, representing 82,200 employees. Participating companies included both large and small businesses from a broad cross-section of industries; among them some of the area's top employers such as University of Rochester, 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 3.1 percent in 2012. A year ago, employers projected average increases of 3.2 percent for 2011. For those companies that actually gave increases between August 2010 and July 2011, the average was 3.2 percent.

Local projections for 2012 raises are a bit higher than national projections when compared to recent surveys published by Aon Hewitt (2.9 percent) and Mercer (3.0 percent).

Broken down by sector, local non-manufacturing organizations are budgeting for slightly lower increases (2.9 percent) than manufacturers (3.2 percent), while for profit organizations are budgeting for an average increase of 3.3 percent compared to 2.7 percent for not-for-profits.

The Pay Trends Survey, conducted annually by the Rochester Business Alliance's Human Resource 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.

Human Resource professionals at Corporate or Partner member companies that were not able to participate in the survey can request a free copy of the 2011 Pay Trends Survey by contacting Kathy Novak at (585) 256-4618 or Jennifer Suppé at (585) 256-4608.