• FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOG IN
  • SIGN UP FOR FREE

Resourceful Finance Pro

  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • Sales & Use Tax
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Payroll
2 minute read

What raises, bonus will look like in 2013

Jennifer Azara
by Jennifer Azara
August 31, 2012
  • SHARE ON

It’s the question everyone wants the answer to right now (supervisors, employees and CFOs): How big of a raise will be given out next year?

We have some new benchmarks for you, courtesy of Towers Watson. The firm just released its salary predictions for 2013.

As departments begin their budgeting process, there’s no better time for this intel to help you see how your company’s compensation plans compare to your peers’ (and maybe even your competition’s).

Average 2013 increase: 2.9%

“Modest” would be the best way to describe the salary increases your peers plan to bestow on their people next year.

The average salary increase for non-management employees will be 2.9% for 2013. That’s up ever-so-slightly from this year’s 2.8% boost and the 2.7% gains to the paychecks in 2011.

But the way that money will be divided will swing wildly depending on how people perform. According to Watson:

  • Employees with the highest performance ratings will get 4.7%
  • Middle-of-the-road performers should see an extra 3.2%, while
  • Those pulling up the back of the pack will still get something, but just 1.3%.

Those are some great yardsticks to help you decide how to distribute salary budget dollars to your own people.

But there’s another piece of the compensation equation that the folks at Towers Watson are cautioning you about.

Bonuses may backfire

You’ll want to look closely at your company’s incentive-based pay program. Because there are some concerns it may not be working the way most of your peers intend it to.

Bonuses have been leaned on much more heavily in recent years, as companies have kept standard pay raises on the conservative side.

But for the second year in a row, bonus programs are expected to be underfunded – at 93% of target for 2013. That continues pattern seen this year, where programs were at 95% of target.

So what’s behind the phenomenon?

Your peers are raising the bar higher and higher for just what will earn those budget dollars. But dangle the carrot too out of reach and your company could end up demotivating people instead of spurring them to greater heights the way the program is intended to.

That’s something you want to address with all supervisors before they set out standards for the coming year with their staffs.

If you plan to keep your bonus standards as high as they’ve been — or maybe even push a little higher? — then make sure supervisors are doing enough to distinguish between their superstars and the rest within the salary dollars you do have, no matter what the number.

Jennifer Azara
Jennifer Azara
Jennifer has covered business and finance for more than 24 years. She has written for CFOs, credit and collections professionals and accounts payable practitioners and has spoken at industry conferences on sales and use tax compliance.

Get the

Resourceful Finance Pro Logo

Newsletter

With Resourceful Finance Pro arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Resourceful Finance Pro Logo
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • WRITE FOR US
  • ADVERTISE WITH US

Resourceful Finance Pro, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day's headlines, Resourceful Finance Pro delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
Copyright © 2022 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

During your free trial, you can cancel at any time with a single click on your “Account” page.  It’s that easy.

preloader