Salaries And Job Opportunities For Data Scientists Continue To Rise

The just-released 2021 edition of Burtch Works survey of data scientists and analytics professionals has found that median base salaries were not noticeably impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and remained relatively steady over the past year. While this year’s survey was conducted by the executive recruiting firm relatively early in the economic recovery, the data collected shows salary growth picking up in 2021. With a growing economy resulting in increased hiring, Burtch Works is predicting salary increases in next year’s report. READ MORE

Colorado remote workers need not apply: Companies avoid state due to salary-posting law

To state Sen. Jessie Danielson, it’s just “shameful.”

Companies large and small have been barring workers in Colorado from applying for remote work positions in what appear to be efforts to bypass a state law mandating companies provide salary ranges when posting job openings in the state.

“This is a remote job except that it is not eligible to be performed in Colorado,” a listing for an account manager position with short-term vacation rental giant Airbnb says. READ MORE

Signing Bonuses, Airbnb Rentals And Bigger Paychecks: How Startups Are Competing For Top Talent In 2021

As the U.S. economy heats up and a new paradigm of remote work means employees expect flexible work arrangements, startups are finding themselves vying for top talent in a hyper-competitive market.

Tech companies have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to employee benefits and perks (Free lunch! Wellness stipends! Booze in the office!). But remote-friendly policies mean that tech workers in 2021 have more options in where to work than ever, and that in turn means companies are doling out signing bonuses, flexible work hours, and other perks to compete for talent. READ MORE

New Salary Range Disclosure Law May Create Headaches for Connecticut Employers

Connecticut joins a small handful of other jurisdictions with similar laws, including Colorado, which enacted a law that became effective in early 2021. The perceived burden of Colorado's law has been so great that there are several published accounts of national employers excluding Colorado-based workers from job postings for remote positions to avoid salary range disclosures. READ MORE

Got A Job Offer? Seven Tips For Negotiating Your Salary

When looking for a new job, getting an offer is only half the battle. The most nerve-wracking part of the process may come when it's time to negotiate the offered salary. Many don’t know how to do it and many more are simply too afraid to ask for fear of appearing pushy. However, negotiation doesn’t have to be an intimidating process.

To help, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best pieces of advice for negotiating your salary after receiving a job offer. Here are their recommended strategies and why they believe more job seekers should follow them. READ MORE

Elizabeth Warren Demands Wealth Tax, Says Jeff Bezos Gets Same Salary as Teacher

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has renewed her call for a wealth tax on some of the richest people in the United States and singled out Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for his relatively low salary.

Warren took to Twitter on Friday and highlighted the fact that while Bezos is worth tens of millions of dollars, he draws a salary roughly equivalent to a Massachusetts public school teacher. READ MORE

Are You Trying to Substitute Compensation for Management?

There's a common trap that a lot of CEOs fall into when it comes to designing their compensation plans. The mistake so many leaders make is that they try to create a commission or bonus plan that does their managing for them. In other words, they try to substitute compensation for management. Over time I have come to realize that there is no perfect compensation program and ultimately one must do management. Let me explain what I mean. READ MORE

Activision Blizzard pulls out a win on say-on-pay proposal after delaying vote for a week

Activision Blizzard Inc. and its shareholders have been at odds about the chief executive’s compensation for years, but as CEO Bobby Kotick’s 2020 pay package hit more than $150 million while the videogame publisher company laid off employees, the battle turned into an all-out war.

At its annual general meeting last week, the “Call of Duty” publisher hit the pause button on an investor vote on its executive compensation, delaying it for a week. Investment firm CtW Investment Group, which had urged shareholders to vote against the “say on pay” proposal, called the company’s move a “desperate attempt to avoid a loss.” READ MORE

Supreme Court rules against NCAA in compensation battle with athletes

The Supreme Court handed a unanimous victory Monday to Division I college athletes in their fight against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over caps it sought to impose on compensation related to education.

The court voted 9-0 to affirm lower court rulings that found that antitrust law prevented the NCAA from restricting payments to athletes for items such as musical instruments or as compensation for internships. The justices rejected the NCAA’s argument that its players’ amateur status would be impossible to maintain if they could receive pay, even for education-related expenses. READ MORE

Does The Tail Know What The Head Is Doing?

Employers who sponsor employee benefits plans are used to providing ongoing communication to plan participants.  The communications range from legally required disclosures (e.g., summary plan descriptions) to legally required notices (e.g., COBRA notices) to information voluntarily provided to participants (e.g., the importance of saving for retirement).  However, regular internal communication between employer management and employees responsible for benefit plan administration and compliance ("benefits staff") is also vital to the effective operation of an employee benefits program.  A lack of effective communication between an employer's management and benefits staff can result in costly, yet avoidable, compliance violations, employee relations issues, and other problems.

Here are four examples of the importance of effective internal communication between employer management and benefits staff. READ MORE

Can Working From Home Fix the Gender-Wage Gap?

Katie Toghramadjian thought she had found a job that would allow her to balance her burgeoning career as a civil engineer with the demands—and joys—of parenting. She had two boys under the age of four when she went to work at BRW, a Minneapolis-based company that offered roadway design services. She had negotiated to work remotely, and her schedule was her own. Toghramadjian would check in with her project manager each afternoon to see what assignments she’d have for the day. Then, after the kids went to bed, she would work from 8 p.m. until about 2 a.m., making sure her assignments were completed for the team to pick up in the morning.  READ MORE

Restricted Stock & RSUs: 3 Planning Tips From Top Financial Advisors

Equity compensation for employees is booming. As stock markets surge, companies find rejuvenated value in granting equity to employees, not just to executives. Those employees, in turn, are getting ever more comfortable with stock investing via online trading apps.

All of this means that the need for financial-planning advice is also booming, especially for employees who have grants of restricted stock or restricted stock units (RSUs). They have become the most common type of equity award now, surpassing stock options. READ MORE

A $30K raise or remote work forever? Employees want remote

Employees at some of the biggest and most well-known companies in the United States say they would choose working from home over a hefty pay raise—the latest evidence of the popularity of work-from-home benefits that has big implications for HR and company leaders.

According to a survey of 3,000 workers from companies including Google, Amazon and Microsoft by professional network Blind, 64% said they would choose a permanent work-from-home option over a $30,000 pay raise. READ MORE

Does Biden tax plan affect those with income below $400,000? It depends on your frame of reference

President Joe Biden has consistently pledged not to raise taxes on households making less than $400,000 a year.

Whether his tax proposal keeps or breaks that promise depends on one’s frame of reference.

Primarily, it’s a question of how an observer considers a taxpayer earning less than $400,000 who has a one-time income windfall, according to tax experts. READ MORE

How to maximize the value of your compensation programs

Decisions about compensation are tricky, with potential indelible impact on a company. A strategically designed compensation program helps a business elicit the desired behaviors, drive the right sales outcomes, do consistent and predictable budgeting and planning, enhance its overall performance, remain competitive in the market, and win the talent game. But when managed poorly, the effects can be devastating.

As 90% of top-performing companies utilize incentive programs to reward their sales associates and properly structured bonus schemes can increase employee performance by 44%, it is critical for boards and management teams to get compensation right. READ MORE