Flex Time Still Popular

June 10, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Flexible work schedules continue to top the list of company non-salary benefits practices, according to a new William Mercer study.

Some 73% of respondents in Mercer’s 2001/2002 US Compensation Planning Survey said their companies allow workers scheduling flexibility. In the 2000/2001 survey, flex time tied with non-cash awards as the most popular practice at 71%.

According to Mercer, other popular programs included:

  • 72% of companies said they utilized non-monetary recognition awards, up slightly from 71% a year earlier,
  • 68% cited employee referral incentives, up almost 50% from last year,
  • 50% used spot cash awards, the same as the year before, and
  • 39% referred to job sharing arrangements, up slightly from last year

Those allowing employees to bring pets to work increased slightly to 2% in the latest study.

Salary Trends

The level of pay increases is expected to drop slightly from 4.4% in 2001 to 4.3% currently. Managers are projected to get the heftiest increase at 4.5% whole nonunion hourly workers should get the leanest raises at 4.1%.

These preliminary survey findings represent compensation planning data provided by nearly 1,100 US employers for Mercer’s annual survey.

The preliminary findings of the 2002/2003 US Compensation Planning Survey are available from Mercer .

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