The following is made up of excerpts from our Coronavirus Compensation Survey Results – Fall Edition white paper.
Between October 1 and October 16 of 2020, ERI conducted a survey of organizational responses to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. During that time, ERI gathered responses from 262 organizations. This survey expands on ERI’s June and April Coronavirus survey methodology. The original surveys had a goal of gauging the direction and magnitude of changes to compensation and workforce by level, with a secondary goal of cataloging additional benefits, as well as the permanence of any changes made. The current study maintained these goals and included some new questions to better understand changes to remote work.
The direction of change was examined with the question, “Which of the following best describes your compensation plan in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)?” There were six responses: increasing compensation, continuing as planned, slowing growth, freezing pay, reducing compensation, still undecided, and other. Organizations that responded with “other” were provided an opportunity to tell us what other response they are taking. These “other” responses tended to cluster around three options: reinstated previously reduced compensation, targeted increases and decreases, and targeted decreases.
The direction of compensation changes does appear to be following a trend. Specifically, the uncertainty from the summer appears to be abating with a sharp reduction in “undecided” responses. Interestingly, it appears that organizations are moving away from the extremes of increasing or decreasing compensation. Responses appear to be primarily concerned with more conservative plans: continuing as planned, freezing pay, or reducing compensation growth. Below are the specific results for these changes.
Overall, 4.2% of organizations are increasing compensation in October 2020. This contrasts with 1.5% organizations in June and 6.6% in April. We found that 43.5% are continuing as planned, as compared to 20.7% in June and 49.7% in April. In response to the pandemic, 17.9% are slowing growth, an increase from 5.5% in June.
Interestingly, 20.2% are freezing pay, an increase of roughly 10% over June (9%) and April (1.5%). In a decrease from 15.4% in June and 14.8% in April, 6.5% are now reducing compensation. Five percent (5%) are now undecided, which is a sharp reduction from 45.5% in June and a smaller decrease from 12.2% in April. Finally, 2.7% of organizations noted “other” responses. Of note, among the “other” responses, 1.9% of organizations have reinstated previously reduced compensation.
For a deeper dive into the survey results, consider downloading the Coronavirus Compensation Survey Results – Fall Edition white paper. In this white paper, we analyze the results into five different sections, compensation changes, workforce changes, remote work, benefits and permanence, and demographics.
