19 Best Practices For Managing Employee Benefits And Compensation

Employee benefits and compensation management lie at the heart of a thriving organization. As the business landscape evolves and employee expectations continue to shift, it's essential for companies to remain agile and strategic in their approach to rewarding and retaining talent.

Below, Forbes Human Resources Council members share 19 methods to help organizations navigate the complex realm of employee benefits and compensation effectively. From attracting top talent to ensuring employee satisfaction and compliance, understanding these practices is crucial for any business striving to stay competitive and foster a satisfied, motivated workforce. READ MORE

Women will accept $66,000 a year to take a new job — while men hold out for more than $90,000

“Know your worth,” career experts often say.

But when it comes to salary expectations, American workers are already setting the bar high.

What some labor economists are calling a “near-perfect” job market has helped propel the amount of money most job applicants would accept to a record this year, reaching $78,645, according to the latest New York Federal Reserve employment survey. READ MORE

How to Negotiate Your Salary in the Age of Pay Transparency Laws

Having more information to gauge your worth should, in theory, give you more leverage in salary negotiations. But the reality is complicated. Companies could be less willing to stray from their set ranges, and you might feel hesitant to push for fear of looking unreasonable.

How should you approach salary conversations in this new era of pay transparency laws? What’s the best way to advocate for yourself when the pay band is exceptionally large? And is it better to be direct or subtle? READ MORE

These 10 college degrees can earn you the highest salaries—over half make $100,000 or more

You can secure a high-paying job with just about any college major, or even without getting your degree.

But if you are looking for a field of study that historically produces highly paid graduates, an engineering degree might be your best bet. READ MORE

Elon Musk jabs at Lucid after its CEO raked in $379 million of total compensation last year

Elon Musk jabbed at a rival electric-vehicle company on Monday, suggesting its boss was overpaid relative to its success.

"Beware any company where leadership compensation is not linked to performance," the Tesla CEO posted on X. He was responding to a recent CEO compensation survey from Automotive News and Equilar, which indicated that Lucid Motors' Peter Rawlinson was the highest-paid boss of a listed US automaker last year. READ MORE

These 19 Executives Pay Themselves Over $150 Million a Year

A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that CEOs of the top 350 publicly traded companies earned in 2021 an average of $27.8 million in realized annual income, a figure which includes stock options. This staggering figure is nearly 400 times higher than the earnings of a typical worker, marking a significant increase from the 366-to-1 ratio observed in 2020 and a massive jump from the 59-to-1 ratio seen in 1989. READ MORE

Nonprofit Executive Pay Rises—but Varies Widely

Executive pay at the U.S.’s nonprofits has steadily grown over the past five years, but the gains are far from equal. 

An annual analysis of nonprofit executive compensation published Thursday by philanthropy data provider Candid shows that it makes a difference where a nonprofit is based, what field it is in, and whether the executives are male or female. READ MORE

Not posting a salary range? You may be losing half your applicants

No pay transparency, no candidate.

That’s the attitude of 44% of job applicants who, over the past 12 months, did not apply to positions because they lacked a salary range, according to a recent Gartner survey of nearly 3,500 job candidates. READ MORE

U.S. salary increase budgets hit 20-year high

U.S. employers made bold moves this year on compensation, pushing salary increase budgets to a 20-year high, despite fears of resurgent inflation and recession, according to a WorldatWork survey released this week. But the momentum is expected to slow by next year.

Increases to salary budgets rose to 4.4% on average this year, slightly higher than earlier projections of 4.1%, and also marking the highest level since the 2001 peak of 4.5%, according to the survey of more than 2,000 U.S. employers. Last year, salary increase budgets stood at 4.1%. READ MORE

Walmart's pay change for entry-level employees another signal of easing labor market

Walmart's (WMT) updated pay structure sent another signal to Wall Street that the labor market appears to be shifting.

In mid-July, Walmart changed the way it pays entry-level workers. Stockers and personal shoppers for online orders who join the Walmart workforce now make the same starting wage as cashiers — about $1 less per hour than the starting wage for those roles three months ago. Pay for existing workers did not change. READ MORE

Meet a 29-year-old accountant whose ‘resentment’ only climbed after her firm raised her salary from $60k to $90k as she made millions for them. She has her own firm now

Stephanie Heredia’s promotion came a year too late and more than a few dollars short. Heredia, 29, started an accountant job at a small Tampa, Florida firm, with the promise that her $60,000 base salary would rise to $100,000 after one year.

But at the last minute, she told Fortune, the timeline became two years. Her eventual salary—$90,000, plus commissions. As the firm grew from four people to 25, Heredia’s responsibilities ballooned. She was charged with opening a new unit in Puerto Rico, which went on to generate an additional $2 million annually for the firm, but asking for a raise felt “like talking to a brick wall,” Heredia said. READ MORE

Contract Worker Rights: New Jersey & Illinois Break the Mold

Groundbreaking employment legislation for contract worker rights in New Jersey (NJ) is now law. NJ is the first US state to mandate equal pay for temporary workers, followed closely by Illinois. 

Effective August 5, the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights carries significant legal implications for temporary staffing agencies and their clients. READ MORE

Workers are finally seeing real wage gains

Labor Day was created over a century ago to commemorate the achievements of the American workforce, and in 2023 the nation's 167 million workers have something to celebrate: wage gains that are putting them ahead of inflation. 

Wage growth has been particularly strong for low-paid workers since March 2020, when the pandemic shut down the U.S. economy, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. Because of government stimulus such as expanded unemployment benefits, low-paid workers had a stronger safety net as they looked for better-paying jobs. As a result, many employers have boosted pay during the past three years. READ MORE

See the leaked Google data that reveals salaries, bonuses and more

Big Tech giants make up a significant portion of the highest-paying employers in the U.S. The median salary at social media giant Meta  (META) - Get Free Report was $296,000 for 2022, making it the second highest-paying employer in the country; Google parent Alphabet  (GOOG) - Get Free Report took third place, clocking in at around $280,000, beating out ETSY  (ETSY) - Get Free Report, which came in at $248,000. 

And even as tech companies across the board have been working to trim their staffs, conducting mass layoffs, annual compensation has been shooting up lately, according to The Street's Brian O'Connell.  READ MORE

An employer’s guide to benefits and salary research

Hiring has become a minefield for employers. Why? Many business owners are facing challenges with recruiting and retaining top level staff. Employers are locked in a competitive battle to attract new talent, with the added pressure of retaining existing key players.

So, it’s time to assemble your benefits packages to come out ahead of your competitors, lock down that ideal candidate and win the war for talent. READ MORE

Understanding the Various Types of Executive Deferred Compensation

The “Nuts and Bolts” of a divorce includes understanding the income and assets of each spouse. When one party is a highly paid executive, income is often more than simply a salary that is reported on a W-2. It is important for the non-working spouse to be familiar with all forms of compensation. READ MORE

Cybersecurity Enters Conversation About Executive Pay

Companies are starting to tie bonuses for their chief executives and other top leaders to cybersecurity metrics, a move that governance experts say could make them more secure against hackers.

The practice is inching up among the biggest U.S. companies, with nine of the Fortune 100 companies linking a portion of short-term bonuses for named executive officers to a cyber goal in 2022, according to new research from accounting and consulting firm EY. That is up from zero in 2018, EY said. READ MORE

Three Steps to Weave Equity Compensation into Your Financial Plan

Stress about finances transcends income level, financial acumen and experience, and today’s economic climate is presenting challenges even for seasoned company leaders. In fact, Morgan Stanley at Work research shows that 83% of executives who receive equity compensation say financial stress is negatively impacting their work and personal lives. READ MORE

DOL Proposes $55K for New Overtime Rule Threshold

After several delays, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Wednesday proposed an increase of the minimum salary threshold for overtime eligibility under the Fair Labor Standards Act to $55,068 per year, which would guarantee overtime pay for most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 per week.  

In its releaseOpen in a new tab, the DOL announced in a notice of proposed rulemaking that the new threshold would restore and extend overtime protections to an estimated 3.6 million salaried workers.  READ MORE

Employers have had enough and are starting to cut salary offers by as much as 47%

After a few years of hefty pay increases for new hires, the trend is reversing, potentially spelling the end to a brief golden age of wage growth for job seekers.

That's according to data collected by online job board ZipRecruiter, which analyzed year-over-year changes in pay posted for more than 20,000 online job ads. It found that the average posted pay for more job titles declined more than increased so far this year. Last year, the opposite was true: Three-quarters of job posts offered higher pay compared to 2021. Additionally, 48% of companies surveyed by ZipRecruiter in July said they had reduced pay for certain roles this year. READ MORE