Pearl Meyer, a compensation consultancy, found that 70% of organizations had implemented larger salary increases this year compared to 2021.

The past two years have been a ‘seller's market’ for employees, but there has also been salary compression where new hires come in at higher salaries than pre-pandemic hires, leaving some employees feeling left behind,” said Robert James, managing director, Pearl Meyer.

“Some boards may buck the trend of coalescing around median pay and start leading on director compensation to remain competitive in attracting new directors and retaining those who might be eyeing the door,” said Ryan Hourihan, managing director, Pearl Meyer.

"It is very unusual to see so many companies planning a second round of [salary] adjustments," said Rebecca Toman, vice president of the survey business unit at Pearl Meyer.

"Companies are being really thoughtful and targeted, and the high-performers are going to be the ones who see the [salary] increases first,” said Rebecca Toman, vice president of Pearl Meyer’s survey business.

“More money is coming [for employees], but we are seeing a more thoughtful, strategic approach in providing these mid-year salary increases,” said Rebecca Toman, vice president of the survey business unit at Pearl Meyer.

“If you have an incentive plan that the entire management organization views as completely unachievable, it is no longer an incentive plan,” said Jan Koors, senior managing director and head of consulting services for Pearl Meyer. “It becomes a disincentive plan, and that’s not in the shareholders’ best interest.”

“In addition to granting more stock, companies are doing it more frequently and granting it to more people within the organization,” said Aalap Shah, a managing director at Pearl Meyer.

“As compensation consultants, we—and our clients—typically look at executive pay is to ensure that we are paying competitively for the CEO position to ensure that the organization is meeting its business goals and thereby driving shareholder value creation,” said Ed Steinhoff, a managing director with Pearl Meyer.

In effect from this employee location shift, employers were surveyed to assess whether compensation would be adjusted. According to Pearl Meyer’s report, 4.3 percent of companies surveyed said they would reduce employee cash compensation if they moved to a lower-cost geographic area, while 56.5 percent said they would not.

“Compensation strategies are facing greater scrutiny, not only as a social issue (the S in ESG) but also as companies struggle with a labor shortage. In a 2021 Pearl Meyer survey, nearly half of respondents (47%) had experienced higher than usual employee turnover,” Corporate Compliance Insights reported.

“Human capital is essential for companies to execute their strategies and if they have shortages or an underqualified workforce, it creates risk for them,” said Bill Dixon, managing director.