According to Mercer’s 2015/2016 U.S. Compensation Planning Survey, the average salary increase budget is expected to be 2.9 percent in 2016, up slightly from the average increase budget of 2.8 percent in 2015.
The survey includes responses from 1,504 midsize and large employers across the U.S. and reflects pay practices for more than 17 million employees.
Mercer’s survey shows that:
- The highest-performing employees received average base pay increases of 4.8 percent in 2015 compared to 2.7 percent for average performers and 0.2 percent for the lowest performers, and this pattern is expected to continue in 2016.
- Salary increases for top-performing employees—7 percent of the workforce in 2015 and projected to be 8 percent of the workforce next year—will substantially outpace that of average performers as companies continue to differentiate salary increases based on performance.
Promotional increases, which on average included approximately an 8 percent rise in pay this year, vary by job category but consistently rose for all groups:
- For executives, promotional increases rose to 9.1 percent of base salary, up from 8.4 percent last year.
- For professionals, promotional increases rose to 7.7 percent, up from 6.9 percent last year.
- 41 percent of organizations are now budgeting promotional increases separately from merit increases, up from 36 percent last year.
