It’s time to debunk these 2 myths about pay raises

After you receive that next big raise at work, or reach a certain economic level, you may think you’ll achieve contentment, happiness, or peace. The reality, though, is that such levels may very well be false summits that provide illusory benefits and ultimately, lead to just the next goal to reach in an ever-upward tilting treadmill. More, it turns out, may not be better; and there are different ways to achieve greater levels of contentment and happiness, regardless of your financial resources.  READ MORE

FTC eyes rule to claw back money from companies that lie about gig worker earnings

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which enforces consumer protection rules, voted on Thursday to embark on regulations that would allow it to win back money from companies that are deceptive about the earnings that workers can make.

The FTC has previously gone after companies such as Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) in 2017 and Amazon.com Inc last year but has been prevented from tackling recent similar cases because of a Supreme Court ruling in April 2021 that said the agency had inappropriately used its rule-making powers to claw back ill-gotten gains. READ MORE

Inflation eroded pay by 1.7% over the past year

High inflation overshadowed a big increase in wages over the past year, amounting to a nearly 2% smaller paycheck for the average worker, according to federal data published Thursday.

Employers have raised wages at about the fastest rate in 15 years, as they compete for talent amid record job openings and quit levels. But consumer prices for goods and services are rising at their fastest annual pace in four decades, eroding those gains for many Americans. READ MORE

How to ask for a raise when companies are desperate for workers

Asking for more money? In this economy? Exactly.

After a tremendous amount of instability over the past couple of years, demand for workers is up and many businesses are hoping to retain their employees. That feat has seemingly become more difficult as some 4.3 million people quit their jobs in August, a sign American workers are looking for better opportunities and pay. In September, a disappointing 194,000 jobs were added, but job openings still outnumber unemployed workers. READ MORE

Pandemic Hits US Bosses' Pay, But Impact Varies

Pay growth for top executives at some of the largest US firms slowed last year as the pandemic hit, and bonus payments fell, a survey showed, shedding light on how this population cohort of affluent individuals has fared. 

Willis Towers Watson’s Global Executive Compensation Analysis Team crunched the pay numbers on executives in S&P 1500 companies. There were smaller increases in both target and earned total CEO pay in 2020, increasing at the median by 4.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively. That is slower than the 6 per cent in target pay and 5.5 per cent increase in earned pay observed in the previous year and the lowest results since the 2015 to 2016 cycle. READ MORE

Pay streaming is about to upend salaries as we know them

Tied to the antiquated 2-4 week pay cycle, millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Nearly half (42%) of U.S. full-time workers find it hard to meet household expenses on time each month, a recent survey showed. That means if an unexpected expense occurs, like a car repair, many people are forced to carry high-interest credit card debt or succumb to payday loans, which carry upwards of 300% interest. Alarmingly, there are now more payday loan storefronts in the U.S. than McDonald’s franchises. READ MORE

Millions of people earning higher minimum wages can probably thank new Nobel Prize winner

If your state recently raised its minimum wage, there’s a good chance new Nobel Prize winner David Card helped make it happen.

Card co-pioneered research in the early 1990s that showed raising the minimum wage didn’t necessarily cause businesses to lay off workers and hurt employment. Before his famous study, economists almost universally believed increasing the minimum wage cost jobs. READ MORE

US wages are going up, and those who don’t adapt to the new reality will fail

There is a significant shortage of labor across the United States. Yes, federal unemployment Covid payments ran out after Labor Day. But still, many workers are reluctant to return to work, wary of their health and safety as the Delta variant continues to rage. Many are looking to switch jobs amid reports of the “great resignation” and employers are desperate to do whatever they can to retain workers as demand continues to remain strong. READ MORE

The myths of ‘income inequality’

It is an article of faith among progressives that income inequality is getting worse in California. In fact, claims of a widening gap between rich and poor are used nationally to justify raising taxes and accelerate the redistribution of wealth.

But like other urban myths, such as how Prop. 13 supposedly starved local governments, it is easily debunked by critical analysis of the data. As it turns out, while the rich are in fact getting richer, so are the poor. READ MORE

Flexible Working Now More Important Than Salary

Flexible working has overtaken salary as the top benefit for U.S.-based employees, with 65% ranking flexibility as more important than compensation, according to a new report from Jabra that analyzes employee sentiments about hybrid work. The finding is included in the Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working: 2021 Global Report, which surveyed 5,000 knowledge workers in five countries worldwide, including the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.

In the U.S., nearly three-quarters of respondents (70%) believe that in the future, having an office space will be considered an employee benefit as opposed to a mandatory way of working. The U.S. workforce also sees the office as a social amenity (65%) and place to collaborate (63%), with independent working happening better off-site. This shift in attitude towards flexible working and office space suggests that employers need to rethink their benefits packages and ensure that they are appropriate for post-pandemic working life. READ MORE

Why Salary Transparency Matters When Attracting New Hires

Salary is the No. 1 factor workers use to determine which jobs to apply for, a recent CareerBuilder survey found. Yet despite the fact that 54% of workers said they use salary to determine whether or not to apply for a job, many job postings do not include salary information. And those that do sometimes use false numbers to lure in candidates — but this can backfire. The survey found that the top deal-breaker when interviewing for a job is learning the starting salary is lower than what is posted on the job description, with 48% citing this as a deal-breaker.

With these stats in mind, it’s clear that salary transparency is a major factor in attracting candidates, and it may be of even more importance given the current job climate. READ MORE

Enhanced Authority Could Strengthen Oversight of Executive Bonuses Awarded Before a Bankruptcy Filing

Some companies made headlines in 2020 for paying their executives large bonuses while undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. While the Bankruptcy Code restricts executive retention bonuses during bankruptcy, our review of FY 2020 data showed that some debtors may be working around the Code's restrictions by paying these bonuses prior to filing.

We recommended that Congress amend the Code to bring pre-bankruptcy bonuses under court oversight and specify factors the court should consider before approving them. READ MORE

Unvested partnership interests as compensation

This may be a good time to revisit the use of unvested partnership interests as compensation because these situations can come up and the applicable authority is perhaps not widely known. The author recently reviewed two matters of this kind. The present discussion focuses on a company's hiring of a new CEO, where the consultations with the tax adviser about the executive's compensation package addressed a number of issues concerning the use of an unvested capital interest in a limited liability company (LLC) taxed as a partnership. READ MORE

UK companies have to disclose gender pay gaps. It's not enough

Large UK companies are required to reveal their gender pay gaps. But the rules are failing to address inequality, according to a new report.

The research, by the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London and the Fawcett Society, concludes that the UK's mandatory gender pay gap reporting, which came into effect in 2017, "has no teeth" and is less effective than other global reporting systems which require a commitment to change. READ MORE