Pay in 2014: Here’s what your peers have planned

Many finance chiefs are already putting together their compensation budget for next year, and some new research will give you a pretty good idea of the competition’s pay plans.

Across all industries and positions, the average pay increase in 2014 is projected to be around 3%. That’s according to separate studies by WorldatWork, Mercer and the Hay Group.

The ever-widening performance gap

As we’ve seen increasingly in recent years, employees’ salary increases will be heavily dependent upon their performance.

And the WorldatWork report broke down expected salary increases by performance type, as well as what percentage of an average employer’s workforce is made up high, middle and low performers.

In 2014, high-performing employees can expect a pay bump of around 4.1%, while low performers are projected to get a mere 0.6% increase in their annual pay.

Middle performers – the employees group that makes up the bulk of most firms’ workforces – are estimated to see a 2.7% increase.

Here’s the breakdown (on average) of employees by performance type:

• 25% are high-performers
• 68% are middle performers, and
• 6% are low performers.

And if you can’t afford it?

Not everybody is in the position to increase staffers’ pay next year. But if your company is in a position where you can’t offer pay increases to even your best and your brightest, you’ll want to do something to keep staff from jumping ship.

While ramping up telecommuting and flex-time is always popular, it’s not always feasible for certain firms — particularly for Finance departments.

Another option: Talk to your retirement plan broker about personal-finance education options for workers. Research shows it’s a benefit many employees are interested in.

Plus, as Resourceful Finance Pro has reported previously, there are plenty of things employers can do in-house to boost workers’ financial wellness.