[From time to time the Chamber finds important surveys that have conducted by independent sources that provides relevant information to the business community. The survey we are sharing today was compiled by ERC (Employers Resource Council), a Human Resource consortium in Northeast Ohio.]

If your organization is in the process of determining compensation for the rest of 2011 and budgeting for 2012, here are 5 important pay trends that you should know related to salary increases and bonuses.

1. Employers are planning salary increases.
The percentage of employers planning salary freezes continues to decrease from the past two years, and the number of organizations projecting salary increases continues to rise. In fact, our most recent research shows that 82% of employers are providing increases this year and 89% are projecting increases for next year. This compares to only 55% in 2009 and 59% in 2010 and is approaching 2008 levels when 90% of employers gave increases. These findings are consistent with other national studies which suggest that salary freezes are on the decline.

2. Average salary increases continue to be modest.
Although more employers are planning increases than in the past few years, they will be modest, hovering around 2.8%-2.9%, which are the average projected increases for 2011 and 2012 cited by numerous surveys. Nonetheless, increases are approaching 3% and some organizations are even exceeding 3%, although very few organizations are budgeting more than 4%. Most compensation experts, however, believe that 3% will be the new 4%. These projections and insights are common across not only our local findings, but also those of WorldatWork, Aon Hewitt, and Towers Watson.

3. Few organizations are recovering pay.
Another trend that has been consistent across numerous compensation budget studies is that few employers are reporting high recovery increases to boost employees’ pay to market levels in spite of their pay freezes over the past few years. Because of this trend, employers may be faced with challenges in retaining employees and especially top talent. This year, studies have shown an uptick in employees dissatisfied with their organization’s compensation practices, especially among those organizations that have not provided increases over the past few years.

4. Merit increases remain the most common.
Merit increases continue to be the most common type of increase provided by organizations, according to most compensation studies, and are differentiated by performance level (by approximately 1.5-2%). Top performers can typically expect increases of 4-5% on average; however, this varies widely by industry. Cost-of-living and across-the-board adjustments are less common, but still used by some employers.

5. There is a positive outlook for bonuses.
Not only are employers continuing to offer bonuses, but they also are more able to fund them. A recent study conducted by Towers Watson shows that many organizations are experiencing stronger performance in terms of profits and as a result, they expect that annual bonuses will be fully funded this year. Bonus trends for 2011 seem to be more positive for many organizations compared to the past few years. Additionally, other pay for performance trends remain strong including differentiation of merit increases.
Overall, many studies indicate that the outlook for pay is moving in a positive direction with fewer salary freezes, slightly higher pay increases, and more funding for bonuses. Nonetheless, market adjustments continue to be an area where many employers are lagging and should keep in mind the possible detrimental effects of not recovering pay from salary freezes.

The Lorain County Chamber of Commerce has chosen Minute Men HR as our Group Rating Third Party Administrator, but remember, if you are not eligible for Group Rating, Minute Men HR has some money saving alternatives for you as well. Minute Men Human Resource System has a plan for your business to save money on your Workers’ Compensation rates. Group Rating is not the single most cost-effective strategy you can implement to lower your Workers’ Compensation premiums anymore. MM HR offers many advantages over other group rating programs with affordable fees and a high quality approach to claims management. In addition, the Minute Men HR System will guide your company to evaluate alternative strategies that will offer your company the greatest discounts in the state. There are other cost savings measures that will save you more money than being in a group!  For a free, no obligation quote and/or to discuss ways to save money if you are not eligible for group rating, call Mike Cipullo at 216-452-0100 x 145 or Christopher Garofoli at x152 or call toll free at 1-800-541-8154.

The 3rd year of the Take Five Free Breakfast series is already under way with our first topic taking place on September 20.  We have 2 more dates in 2011 so be sure to mark your calendar for:  October 18 and November 15 where the topics will be respectively:  Is Your Companies Health Plan Healthy and Workplace Accommodations ; is your organization prepared?  Sponsored by LCCC@work, Lorain County Growth Partnership, Team Lorain County, your Lorain County Chamber, Lorain County JVS, First Place Bank and Ogletree Deakins.  All seminars are free, but we ask that you register, since we are also providing breakfast.  Visit www.lorainccc.edu/takefive today and sign up.  Mark your calendars for 2012 as well – March 20, April 17 and May 15 – topics to be determined.

Keep your eyes open and check your mailboxes for the soon to be released puLse Fall 2011 Edition with the results of the Best of Lorain County inside.  Many Lorain County Chamber members were nominated and the results are very positive for our members, but I don’t want to give away the results in our newsletter.  There is also a great article inside about the LCCC and JVS partnership – Project Lead The Way which will benefit our students in Lorain County and focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  The Fall issue also highlights our newest Lorain County business – Rural King which moved into the former Value City building in Carlisle Township.  There is also an interesting piece on local artist Eric Dull who opened his Broken Road Creative Studio in Grafton.  It’s great to see such positive things happening to the folks who call Lorain County home.  And we thank all of our partners who make puLse possible – EMH Healthcare, Lorain County Board of Commissioners, Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, LCCC, Lorain County JVS, Lorain National Bank and Team Lorain County, who along with the Great Lakes Publishing have made it possible to bring puLse to you for 3 years.

OSHA Revision on Reporting Injury & Illness

On June 22, 2011, OSHA published a proposed rule revising the injury and illness reporting requirements for employers. Currently, employers must report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Under OSHA’s expanded proposed rule, employers would be required to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related amputations as well as fatalities, and all work-related in-patient hospitalizations regardless of how many employees go to the hospital.

Additionally, the proposed rule revises the list of employers currently exempt from certain recordkeeping obligations. The agency is proposing to base the list on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), rather than the current Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The revisions will take some employers out of the exemption while bringing others within the exemption. Written comments on the proposed rule were due by September 20, 2011.

Our new Safety Council calendar has Chad Positano presenting on April 18, 2012, so hopefully he can give us an update on this change.

Note: This above article was published in the July 2011 issue of the MSHA/OSHA Report.

There was a time when Chambers of Commerce used to slow down a bit in the summer months due to vacations and people not wanting to network and participate in activities.  Well, I can tell you those days no longer exist, at least not for the staff or the members of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce.  If you are wondering why you haven’t received a newsletter from us since June, it’s because we haven’t had time to put the information together and get it out to you! 

We literally kicked off the Summer with our Summer Solstice Celebration at Smitty’s in Elyria.  Again, congrats to Mark Hausman from iPrint Technologies who won the tickets to see Jersey Boys at Playhouse Square.  Our Summer Networking event took us south in Lorain County to Common Ground in Oberlin.  We had a great tour of the facilities at this gem in Lorain County, including the team-building ropes course on premises.  Many who attended remembered it as Oberlin Day Camp, myself being one of those day campers of old.  Early July also saw us welcome a new member to the County Chamber, but more importantly, a new business to Lorain County – Buderer Drug opened up their 3rd Northern Ohio location in Avon.  Buderer is a Compounding Pharmacy, which makes them very unique in what they offer the doctors and customers who use them – plus they are the official Compounding Pharmacy of the Cleveland Indians, and you know how I feel about my Tribe!  And while the Tribe is done for the year, our own Lake Erie Crushers welcomed the Frontier League All Stars to All Pro Freight Stadium on a beautiful summer night to a sold out crowd that was there in full force to make Lorain County shine.  A few weeks after the All Star Game, the Lorain County Chamber All Stars showed up 225 strong for a Chamber Night under the lights on a beautiful August night.  Thanks to all of our sponsors (especially our friends at Community Star Credit Union who provided T-Shirts for nearly everyone who attended) and those that donated door prizes for the event. 

We held another summer networking event with our friends at Harry Buffalo for our annual Summer Happy Hours.  Although the rain chased us indoors (seemed like it rained a lot this summer, didn’t it?) we all still had a great time.  We held our annual New Teacher’s Luncheon at LCCC again this year, with over 150 teachers, superintendents and business people who wished our new teachers good luck with the new school year and reminded them how much we depend upon them to educate and help our greatest assets as they learn and grow in Lorain County.  Thank you again!  And thank you to all the sponsors who help us host that event every year, without them it would not be possible.  The new fiscal year for the Lorain County Safety Council also began in August with over 110 in attendance at the Ramada in Elyria.  Our monthly meetings focus on Safety Related topics to help keep the hard working men and women in Lorain County healthy and earning wages. 

September kicked off our Business After Hours for the remainder of the year with an amazing turn out at The Unicorn Restaurant in Grafton.  Our hosts, Gail and Kevin Flanigan were a little taken aback by the amount (and the loudness) of nearly 90 County Chamber members networking and getting to know one another in the cozy confines of their restaurant.  Thanks to everyone who turned out in full force for this BAH and we look forward to seeing everyone at the JVS event on October 11th.  The rest of September seems like a blur – We had the Apple Festival and the Century Club fundraiser; Groundbreaking ceremony for the new SMART building on the campus of LCCC, which is an amazing addition to an already staggering amount of offerings that LCCC has for us all; and finally our 5th Annual Clambake (this year in the Country) that we co-host with the North Ridgeville Chamber.  We moved it indoors this year to Toms Country Place, since the weather was bad last year and we again, have to thank our sponsors, donors and attendees who came out to support this fun, social event that kicks off the area’s Clambake season.  Special thanks to Heidelberg Distributing who made our beverage choices especially delicious this year and to LCCC and EMH who co-sponsored the event again for us this year.  Shout out to pOUT for their musical entertainment too.

I think I may have forgotten our joint celebration of the 10th year of GLIDE - The Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise which is a partnership between LCCC, the Lorain County Commissioners and YOUR Lorain County Chamber of Commerce.  With an economic impact of over $200 million dollars in this short span of 10 years, it has created a ROI of 62 times the initial investment.  WE are proud to be a partner with LCCC and the Lorain County Commissioners on things that affect Lorain County in a positive way.  Thank you and we look forward to many more years of partnership with them. 

And in case I forget to say it – Thank you to all of our board members, our long time members, our new members and our potential members.  I lean on all of you to donate, sponsor, join, participate and sometimes we forget to say thank you for all that you do.  Without each and every one of you, we would not be able to put on the high quality, top notch functions that we proudly call Lorain County Chamber of Commerce events.

The Lorain County Chamber is pleased to announce and welcome the following new members that have joined recently. Please be sure to introduce yourself and make them feel welcome at one of our upcoming events. Remember, we always welcome new members and it is always the right time to join YOUR Lorain County Chamber of Commerce.

In the picture above, new member the Village of Grafton was on hand at our BAH at The Unicorn in September.  Thanks to Mayor Shari Szczepanski and Linda Bales for joining and participating in our County Chamber of Commerce.  Mayor Shari  won the Gift Certificate to The Unicorn but was gracious enough to give it to someone at the BAH who had never eaten at The Unicorn before – now that’s being a good new member!  Building Business by Building Relationships – that’s what it is all about people!

• Acorn Child Care And Preschool
• Adult Comfort Care Services, Inc.
• All Aspects Contracting
• Datacore Consulting
• Faith House
• Humana
• Mattress Warehouse – Amherst 
• Morton’s Landscape Development Co.
• QBM Ohio, Inc.
• South Shore Electric, Inc.
• Teamlogic IT
• TeleTech Holdings, Inc.
• Village of Grafton