Twenty-nine percent of chief financial officers expect to offer higher raises
in 2006 than they did in 2005, and 20 percent anticipate giving bigger bonuses,
according to a survey by Robert Half International, Inc., a staffing firm.
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Get Your Report Now!The survey included more than 1,400 CFOs from U.S. companies with 20 or more
employees.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said they don't expect to give larger raises
than they did in 2005, and 67 percent said they don't anticipate offering better
bonuses.
CFOs who said they expected to increase raises and bonuses in 2006 were asked
by what percentage these forms of compensation would rise. The mean responses
were 5 percent for raises and 7 percent for bonuses.
"Many companies may be hesitant to increase employee compensation because
of other expenses impacting the business, such as rising healthcare and energy
costs," says Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International
Inc.. "But an overly cautious approach can be detrimental, particularly
as the competition for top candidates intensifies. Firms that fail to reward
good performance risk losing their best talent."