While middle-class wages haven’t grown much in inflation-adjusted terms over the past few years, that’s not the case for many lower-wage workers. Recent analysis by economist Elise Gould shows, for example, that while median pay was unchanged in 2017, low pay — the 10th-percentile wage, meaning 90 percent of workers earn more — rose at a strong clip of 3.7 percent. Follow-up work by Gould shows roughly similar results through the first half of this year. READ MORE
New IRS Guidance Regarding Section 162(m)’s Deduction Limitation for Executive Compensation
The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) recently issued Notice 2018-68 (the “Notice”) that provides guidance regarding the application of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Section 162(m)”) following the amendments contained in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”). While helpful in clarifying certain issues, the Notice narrowly interprets key aspects of the amended Section 162(m) in a manner that is likely to increase the complexity of compliance and greatly restrict eligibility for grandfathering of pre-TCJA compensation arrangements. READ MORE
5 Tactics for Transforming Performance Reviews
Many business leaders and experts say that performance reviews are just not that effective. It’s true that there are many ways employers can tank one of these reviews and make it less helpful for workers. Some employees feel unfairly targeted or find it hard to listen at all. READ MORE
Your Pay Is Probably Going Down Next Year
Despite the improving economy, companies have stubbornly withheld salary increases over the past few years, opting to fatten the bonus pool instead. Now, they’re taking those bonuses away, according to a new survey. READ MORE
One Reason for Slow Wage Growth? More Benefits
One of the most perplexing questions about the nation’s economic recovery is why a tight labor market has not translated into faster wage growth. Part of the answer appears to be that American workers are receiving a growing share of compensation in the form of benefits rather than wages. READ MORE
Real Wage Growth Is Actually Falling
The U.S. economy is at “full employment,” says the official 3.9% unemployment rate.
The problem is that fully employed people haven’t seen enough wage growth. It’s a puzzle. Wages used to rise faster when unemployment was this low. READ MORE
52% of workers say a ‘higher salary’ is needed to remain at their company
New research from Eightfold shows that 52% of workers surveyed say they’d remain at their company for a heftier paycheck. But, while 30% want a new position where they work now, 53% want a new one at a different workplace. Furthermore, while 55% of employees say they get “unsolicited messages from recruiters at least once per week,” 78% say they’re open to it. READ MORE
Four things you absolutely must do in your salary negotiation
Countless job seekers and employees still struggle with negotiating salaries and advocating for themselves. But let’s say you’ve worked yourself up to asking for a higher salary. You could still be missing out on perks that can further enhance your compensation package–and they may not be that far out of reach. READ MORE
Top three compensation trends for 2018
Salaries aren’t enough incentive to retain top talent. With today’s economy with record low unemployment that favors job seekers, employers are looking for new methods to increase employee job satisfaction while maintaining a healthy bottom line. READ MORE
World's Largest Wealth Fund Says Companies Pay CEOs All Wrong
Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund last year sent a clear message to big U.S. companies: You should rethink how CEOs are paid.
But 18 months after publishing its contrarian views on executive compensation, there’s scant evidence the fund that owns 1.4 percent of the world’s publicly traded stock is taking directors of major American firms to task. READ MORE
Pros and Cons of Making an 83(b) Election
f an employer grants one of its employees a restricted stock award, should that employee make an 83(b) election at the time the restricted stock award is granted? What is the upside to the employee if he or she makes an 83(b) election? What are the risks to the employee? READ MORE
Think the gender pay gap is bad? Women in tech face an equity gap, and it's even worse
Women on average make about 80 cents for every dollar a man does. In Silicon Valley, the wealth gap is even wider, extending to the most potentially lucrative currency on the planet: stock options. READ MORE
Incentive Compensation That is Never Subject to Income Tax – Too Good to Be True?
Clients frequently ask if they can provide incentive compensation to their employees and executives in a manner that gives them flexibility and drives performance, but receives coveted capital gains treatment. This usually sounds too good to be true. In most cases, you can defer or sometimes minimize income tax for employees (retirement plans, deferred compensation arrangements, stock appreciation rights, non-qualified stock options), but there is one tool that enables employees to skip income tax, FICA, and withholding altogether – well-designed and-well managed incentive stock options or “ISOs.” READ MORE
NQDC plans: Solutions in search of a problem
In this roaring economy, much has been written about employers reinvesting tax breaks to sweeten benefit packages and take-home pay, but what about the nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) area? Kirk Wolf, managing regional VP of nonqualified plans and principal securities for Principal Financial Group, explains to EBA how these plans fit into the war on talent and the importance of periodic benchmarking, as well as applying their inherent flexibility to commonly faced issues and communicating their value. READ MORE
Nonprofit CEO Compensation Increases Approached Pre-Recession Levels
For the second consecutive year, nonprofit CEOs received compensation increases approaching pre-Great Recession levels in FY 2016, according to the 2018 GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report. Released today, the report is the 18th edition in GuideStar’s annual series. It remains the only large-scale nonprofit compensation analysis based entirely on IRS data. READ MORE
Don’t Blame Business for Slow Wage Growth
Are wages determined by market forces, or do businesses get to decide what pay they offer to workers?
This question gets at the heart of a lot of the debate about the economy. Why has wage growth been so sluggish for so many years? READ MORE
Wages Are Growing Faster Than You Think
Standard wage data show that between the spring of 2017 and the spring of 2018, real wages in the U.S. increased only 0.1%. But there are three major problems with these data. First, they don’t account for fringe benefits, which are an increasing proportion of employee pay. Second, standard wage data use an index that overstates the inflation rate. Third, each year the composition of the workforce changes, as older, higher-paid workers retire and young, lower-paid workers enter the workforce. READ MORE
Low Unemployment, Slow Wage Growth Bring Renewed Labor Strife
The strengthening economy and tight labor market are giving workers more confidence to demand employer concessions through strikes. READ MORE
How ERISA affects 'top-hat' compensation plans
Companies that consider nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements for their key executives often focus on how those arrangements are treated for tax purposes. But in the midst of the tax discussion, don’t lose track of the other federal law that governs these arrangements: the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). READ MORE
Size Matters In Executive Compensation
Today, we wrapped up The 2018 OPEN MINDS Executive Leadership Retreat. Each year, as part of our work in leadership we conduct an annual survey focused on executive compensation and retention. The big takeaway this year – size matters. READ MORE