UEC releases pay reports

Utah’s Employers Council recently published two job compensation surveys designed to help Utah organizations keep current and competitive with employee salaries. The 2017 “Utah Benchmark Compensation Survey” (benchmark survey) and the new “Information Technology Compensation Survey” (IT survey) provide a snapshot of state and regional salary policies, including base salaries, average percent pay increases and hiring rates, according to a release from the organization.

The benchmark survey provides salary benchmarks for everyone from welders to writers and from clerks to CEOs. The survey data showed that the average salary increase for all Utah regions and organizations surveyed did not jump significantly, going from 3 percent in 2016 to 3.2 percent in 2017. The average hiring wage for full-time, inexperienced, entry-level personnel was $13.81.

The IT survey takes a deeper dive into the technology industry in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. Tech company owners will want to note that average pay increase percentages projected for technology departments in 2017 ranged from 1.5 percent in Wyoming to 3 percent in Utah and to 3.1 percent in northern Colorado. The technology companies surveyed reported the average signing bonus for IT management positions was $958. The IT bonuses ranged from $796 for companies with less than five IT employees to $1,635 for companies with 51 or more IT employees.

The survey also noted that the percentage of IT companies that outsourced IT positions jumped from 25 percent in 2016 to 60 percent in 2017.

“The Employers Council’s goal is to give employers and HR managers the tools they need to entice and retain employees,” said Ryan Nelson, president of Employers Council of Utah. “The two surveys provide employers with perspective on salaries for positions within their industries and help them make educated decisions when creating compensation packages or considering pay increases within their companies.

“Today’s job market is competitive and organizations must not only craft attractive salary packages, they must also create positive employment conditions to attract the best talent,” added Nelson. “Our survey data, employer training and employment law services are all important arrows that employers need in their quivers, to become employers of choice.”

More than 150 Utah organizations participated in the benchmark survey with 26,524 Utah employees reporting. Four hundred and sixty-three organizations in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona participated in the IT survey with 9,312 employees reporting.