工薪族喜迎小幅加薪潮

    经济衰退正式结束了三年多后，美国职场终于重现加薪潮。

    虽然加薪幅度仍低于经济衰退前的水平，但很少再有雇主不加薪，只是送上一张感谢卡或一盒巧克力了事。非营利性人力资源组织WorldatWork的一项研究显示，美国雇主们不再拖延和观望，已经开始加薪。

    WorldatWork的研究显示，今年美国员工的平均加薪等待期为12.4-12.7个月，明年预计也差不多。这个数字比2010年大有改观。2010年，美国雇主平均等待13.7个月才给不适用于加班费法规的美国领薪员工加薪。WorldatWork的数据显示，经济衰退最严重时期，10%的雇主等了36个月（整整三年！）才开始上调员工薪资基准（用于确定工资的薪级表），平均等待期也达到了28个月。

    加薪等待期可能已恢复正常，但这并不意味着加薪幅度大幅提升。大多数美国员工将获得约3%的加薪，但表现出众的人可能会获得更大幅度的加薪——有些涨幅可达到邻座一般同事的两倍。作为参照，2012年美国通胀率为1.4%-3%。

    WorldatWork的薪酬业务高级负责人周凯瑞（音译）表示，美国雇主目前对加薪的态度大多为“慢慢来，要慎重…… 再稍微等等。”他表示，由于全球经济发展存在大量的不确定性，欧洲麻烦缠身，中国和其他地区增长放缓，美国又面临财政债务难题，短期内预计加薪“将相当温和，相当谨慎”。

    随着冻结薪酬预算的公司减少，今年美国加薪幅度已小幅升至3%，高于2009年的2.2%，后者曾将创下39年来的低点。WorldatWork调查的2,150家美国雇主中，仅5%的雇主称预计将保持薪酬水平不变，大大低于2009年的33%。

    有些公司继续维持管理层薪资冻结政策。人力资源咨询公司美世（Mercer）的一份研究报告显示，8.2%的雇主计划今年冻结高管工资。根据WorldatWork的数据，高级管理人员往往比普通员工要等更长的时间才能获得加薪，平均等待期为13.1个月。

    那么，什么时候才会开始加薪呢？很多加入工会的员工会按劳动合同每满一年获得加薪，这不适用于他们。大多数美国员工可以期待在明年1月份或第一季度的某个时间获得加薪。美世报酬业务合伙人吉妮·阿金斯称，这是因为更多的公司正在转向“人人都在同一时间获得加薪”的模式。

    Finally, more than three years after the recession officially ended, salary raises are rolling in again.

    Though they are smaller than they were pre-recession, hardly any employers are handing staffers a thank-you note or a box of chocolates instead of a pay increase. Employers also are no longer dragging their feet and waiting extra weeks to deliver these raises, according to research by nonprofit HR association WorldatWork.

    This year, the average wait time between raises for U.S. workers has been 12.4 to 12.7 months and next year it is expected to be about the same, according to WorldatWork. This marks a major improvement from 2010, when employers waited an average 13.7 months to offer pay increases to their U.S. exempt salary workers. In the depths of the recession, 10% of employers held off for 36 months -- three years! -- before increasing their salary structures - pay scales that are the benchmarks for determining salaries -  and the average had inched up to 28 months, according to WorldatWork.

    The planned timing between raises may be back on track, but that does not mean gains will be generous. Most U.S. workers will earn a raise of around 3%, though some star performers can expect more -- in some cases twice the rate of gain as the average worker a few cubicles away. To put this into perspective, the inflation rate in the U.S. in 2012 has ranged from 1.4% to 3%.

    In the United States, the attitude on raises is mostly, "Take it slow. Take it cautiously…. Let's hold back a little bit," says Kerry Chou, WorldatWork senior compensation practice leader. Amid all the global uncertainty, with problems in Europe, slower growth in China and elsewhere, and the U.S. fiscal debt woes, the short-term outlook for raises is "pretty modest, pretty cautious increases," he says.

    Raises have inched up from a 39-year low of 2.2% in 2009 to a 3% gain this year as fewer companies have frozen their compensation budgets. Only 5% of the 2,150 U.S. employers WorldatWork surveyed said they expect to keep all salary levels steady, down from 33% in 2009.

    Some companies have kept salary freezes limited to corner office occupants. A report by consulting firm Mercer found that 8.2% of employers planned to freeze company executives' salaries this year. Officers and executives also tend to wait a bit longer for raises than the rank and file, 13.1 months on average, according to WorldatWork.

    So, when will these raises roll in? While many union workers receive pay increases on the anniversary dates of their contract ratification, they are the exception to the rule. Most U.S. workers can expect their pay to be bumped up in January, or else sometime in the first quarter. That's because more companies are shifting toward an "everybody gets their increase at one time" model, says Jeanie Adkins, a partner in the reward practice at Mercer, a human resources consulting firm.