December 11, 2013
Companies Planning Modest Executive Pay Raises Next Year
– Broc Romanek, CompensationStandards.com
Towers Watson’s recently completed annual salary planning survey of 910 U.S. companies found that executives can expect fairly modest salary increases in 2014, generally consistent with the levels in recent years. The survey participants granted a 2.7% average annual increase to their executives this year. For 2014, projected salary budgets put the average executive pay increase at 2.9%.
The survey also found that top performers are likely to do far better than the average as companies continue their recent efforts to better differentiate rewards based on performance. Retaining top performers and scarce leadership talent remains a significant challenge for many companies, even with the overall softness in the labor markets.