Last week at the 8th annual Compensation & Benefits Conference, ASE released the long-awaited results of ASE’s 2018 Compensation Survey. Those in attendance were able to get a first look at the results and historical trends.
This year’s survey had participation from 354 companies covering over 500 facilities and reporting data for over 100,000 employees. 56.4% of participants are located in the Metro Detroit region, and just over 82% had fewer than 500 employees. The largest industry represented in the survey was durable goods manufacturing at 45%. Nearly 40% of the participants were automotive suppliers. 260 of the 354 participants also participated in the survey last year, giving the survey a 73% constant sample.
When looking at actual wage growth, several job families throughout all the reports saw above average growth. Of the top three, Human Resources had the highest wage movement at 3.9%, followed by Engineering Support with 3.87%, and Medical with 3.75%.
The results are based on three separate surveys: Production and Maintenance Survey; Office, Clerical, and Technical Survey; and the Supervisory, Managerial, and Professional Survey. Of those, the Production and Maintenance Survey saw the highest wage growth at 3.1%. While overall production positions had a 3% increase, some skilled trades positions experienced the highest increases year over year. Tool & Die positions saw a 5.2% increase, Maintenance Mechanics saw 4.2%, and Machinists saw 3.8%. The greater movement in these positions is likely due to the growing shortage of skilled trades labor.
If you guessed 3% for merit increases (again), you were right. The average merit increase across all job families came in at an unsurprising 2.93%. In addition, merit dollars continue to be spread about the same as last year. 61% of organizations reported that all employees receive some merit dollars (even low performers), and 31% stated that top performers receive most of the merit dollars.
On par with national data, 81% of organizations are using some form of variable pay. For automotive suppliers, 90% are using variable pay. As could be expected, the higher the salary level the greater the likelihood that some of the compensation will be tied to variable pay.
To download an infographic highlighting the results click here.
ASE members who participated in the survey can access the full reports from their Dashboard on the ASE website. While on the website you can also utilize the Compensation On-Demand Analytics tool to create your own custom reports by job or job family and utilize more specific demographic variables.
To purchase the results of ASE’s 2018 Compensation Survey please contact the survey team at [email protected]. If you purchase by June 30, we are offering 10% off and a customized report for up to five positions of your choice.
Additional ASE Resources
Market Pricing and Compensation Benchmarking - This public class describes the core principles and approaches of market pricing and benchmarking in compensation. Discussion will include methods to collect and analyze compensation data so one can effectively evaluate and price jobs in the market place. Participants will learn how to utilize and analyze compensation data to evaluate their organizations' pay rates. The class will take place in Livonia on Wednesday, June 20. To learn more or register, click here.