A.I.M. Compensation Survey Indicates Planned 07 Merit Increase Budgets Up Slightly.

BOSTON -- Associated Industries of Massachusetts (A.I.M.), the Commonwealth's largest employer association with more than 7,600 Bay State businesses and institutional members, has published the 24th edition of its Massachusetts General Wage Survey Report, along with the second edition of the Massachusetts Executive Compensation Report.

The General Wage and Salary Report contains information reported by 223 employers from across the state, and includes data on 16,710 individual workers. The Executive Compensation Report contains information from 178 employers on executive compensation for 37 top management positions including CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, division general managers, and sales & marketing management positions.

The size of the firms participating in this year's surveys ranged from small employers with less than 50 employees to larger firms with more than 1,000 employees, from all five regions of the state.

The top three compensation priorities for 2007, as reported by survey respondents are:

1. Managing top performers;

2. Addressing market competitiveness; and

3. Communicating the total compensation program to staff

Other key results from the surveys include:

* Merit increase budgets are beginning to slowly ramp up in 2007 - with 38% of the respondents predicting increases of between 3-3.4% - while 35% are predicting to increase salaries between 3.5 and 4.5%.

* 13% of respondents instituted a pay freeze in 2006, while 2% reported implementing a salary reduction program.

* Only 6% of participating companies predicted a significant increase in hiring in 2007 - while three quarters of the respondents reporting that their voluntary turnover rate was less than 5%.

* 66% of respondents indicated that they utilize a common merit review date system for their non-unionized employees.

* 60% of respondents provide their executives with supplemental life insurance benefits - while 40% provide executives with supplemental disability benefits.

In addition, the reports contain information on compensation priorities for 2007, and on overtime and incentive pay plans. For additional information about the surveys, or to place an order for the reports, go to A.I.M.'s website www.aimnet.org, or call 617-262-1180.