Even with a four-year high in the hiring, manufacturing and service sectors, benefits managers are utilizing higher pay and improved benefits to deal with their ongoing recruitment challenges.
In August, about one-half of manufacturers and one-third of service-sector companies say they plan to add jobs. But when compared to one year ago, there are slight hiring rate increases for manufacturing (0.3%) and the service sector (0.7%), the Society for Human Resource Management states in a new report.
Meanwhile, both sectors reported increases in recruiting difficulty in July, according to SHRMs Leading Indicators of National Employment Report. And this is where compensation practices are changing. When it comes to new hire pay, the service sector reported a 4% increase and there was a 2.7% surge in the manufacturing rate, compared to figures released in July 2013, the SHRM LINE report states.
Jennifer Schramm, SHRMs manager of workforce trends, explains that new pay increases are popping up in both sectors for a number of reasons.
I think there might be particular jobs within industries where its getting harder to fill those vacant [spots], Schramm explains to EBN. Those are the ones that are pushing new hire compensation up.
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Meanwhile, for the overall American workforce, which the Department of Labor says saw an increase of 209,000 jobs bringing unemployment up to 6.2% for the nation in July most established workers are not seeing the same wage increase strategy as is being offered to those fresh faces entering the labor force.
Its not really a trend thats covering everybody, Schramm notes. But for those industries that it is impacting, she explains that its covering those really in-demand, high-skilled workers that are in jobs with strategic importance.
As the recession becomes an afterthought to business operations in manufacturing and service sectors, Schramm says there may also be a bigger scenario for its leaders and benefit managers.
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They are seeing the baby boomers getting ready to retire, and they are starting to think about leadership development for the future, she notes. They really do have [to incorporate] talent management, acquiring people with a future ahead of them at the organization, that they think they can develop into future leaders.
Despite the positives with the August SHRM Line report, Schramm predicts those that manage human capital will have to take a wait and see approach to the job market before they decide to change their organizational hiring practices.
