The numbers aren’t as bullish as previous years, but a national survey on salaries and benefits for 2002 is heartening.

That’s the opinion of Barry Cook, a Vancouver-based partner in Western Compensation and Benefits Consultants who has 25 years experience in assisting employers with the design, management and communication of their compensation programs.

Across the country, workers are looking at hikes in the three-per-cent range, down from raises of four and 3.5 per cent the past two years, says Cook. Once again Alberta leads the way, an average of one-half point to a point higher than the rest of Canada.

The figures are found in Western Compensation’s national survey of 409 organizations, including 350 job titles, between Sept. 1 and the end of October. Firms polled before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were recanvassed.



Other findings show an increase in the growth of cash bonus plans, flexible benefits, referral bonuses, retention bonuses and modified work weeks.

“I don’t think things are as bad as what comes out in the media,” says Cook, who conducted a seminar recently at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. The workshop was designed to help companies benchmark compensation.

With offices across Canada including Calgary and Edmonton, Western Benefits believes the survey on compensation policy is about as fresh as it gets, says Cook.

Detailed information was presented to clients in early November and provides a guide for employers, the majority of whom change their compensation packages in the first calendar quarter.

“Back around Sept. 11 we saw one or two headlines in the national newspapers saying employers were going to freeze salaries,” says Cook. “The headlines were wrong.”

For 2002, the private sector will lead the way in increases, followed by the not-for-profit group, and finally the public sector. Included in the leading groups are many high-tech companies.

“For those that think the high-tech fraternity has disappeared, it’s not the case,” says Cook.

“There are many high-tech firms that are well-financed and moving ahead.”

Companies surveyed before Sept. 11, and later resurveyed, said they wouldn’t be altering their compensation plans, or if so, would make small changes.

The findings have left Cook feeling upbeat.

Generally in economic recessions there would be a dampening in salary increases across the board, but that’s not the case.

“Alberta is at the top end of Canada, but it isn’t as bad across the country as one would infer from the things you read in the press.”

Beyond salaries, what trends are emerging?

Bonuses remain pretty important, the study finds.

“Looking back to the ’80s, there has been continued growth in incentive compensation. A bigger proportion of employers in every one of our annual surveys have incentive plans to pay out cash every year,” says Cook.

Better than two-thirds of employers surveyed have some form of incentive program (i.e. annual bonus or profit sharing). Two-thirds said they would be paying bonuses, 25 per cent were unsure and the remainder wouldn’t be offering any.

The prevalence of bonuses is highest at the executive level (80 per cent), but six out of 10 employers say they have some form of incentive pay for their administrative support and clerical positions.

Flexible benefits continue to show a growth pattern, although less than 25 per cent of employers in medium- and large-size companies give the option.

Under the system, employers offer employees flex dollars or a budget of dollars to tailor a plan to their needs. For example, a young family may opt for extended health benefits in the medical and dental areas.

While the flexibility helps companies differentiate themselves from competitors, it also gives the employer a chance to contain its costs, explains Cook.

As provincial governments continue to reduce the benefits they offer, companies tend to absorb them in their extended plans.

By setting a budget per employee, the company can control these offloaded costs that are increasing dramatically – about 15 per cent a year.

Retention bonuses also pop up on compensation radar screens. These bonuses are not tied to profit or performance, but related to an employee being on the payroll at a certain date in the future.

And referral bonuses, which gathered impetus in the high-tech fraternity, are more prevalent with 20 per cent of employers saying they periodically use them.

While the modified work week (i.e. take every third Friday off for working longer days) has been commonplace in Calgary, especially in the oilpatch, nationally 20 per cent of workers have the option.

About 65 per cent of white-collar workers have some form of flexible hours where they can set their start and finish times.

Cook says that while most workers have an idea of how they stack up against their peers in the marketplace, few have an accurate assessment of their total compensation.

“When you think about stock plans, pension plans, medical and dental, most people don’t have the technical skills to evaluate,” he says.

Human-resources departments can do this, and executives and management groups will have thisinformation, maybe even in respect to their own jobs, but the rank and file employee don’t know enough.

Employees can evaluate career ads, search salary/survey websites, and find information that governments collect. But Cook cautions that government data is often out of date, and warns about using the web.

“We have vetted salary/survey websites and found they are fraught with inaccuracies that are misleading to people.”

Overall, Cook says the outlook for workers is positive. Economists believe there will be an uptick by mid-2002, he says. “With the expectation of salary increases, low inflation, and tax cuts in some provinces, there is a real triple whammy effect.”