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2021 IoPP Salary Survey: Salary Freezes Begin to Thaw. How Does Your Compensation Compare?

After a flat salary year in 2020 with heightened uncertainty and worry about both traditional salary increases and bonuses, 2021 results indicate that confidence is returning. Meanwhile, job security is high and fewer people are seeking greener pastures.

Last year's salary freezes are thawing, and compensation optimism is slowly but surely heating up.
Last year's salary freezes are thawing, and compensation optimism is slowly but surely heating up.

Are we there yet? Is it safe to say we’re emerging from the uncertainty of a pandemic into the (forgive the now-cliché) new normal? Are we recalibrating to adjust to what global consumer trends monitor Mintel calls the “next normal?” If the results of the annual Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) Salary Survey are any evidence, the answer seems to be “kind of.” Uncertainty is diminishing, and confidence is returning. We’re on the downslope, but we aren’t fully there yet. Screen Shot 2021 07 09 At 11 40 53 Am

Getting down to brass tacks, overall reported salaries rebounded slightly in this year’s reporting, up 5.7% after a dip last year. But only a little more than a third of this year’s 828 respondents also took the survey last year, with another quarter who may or may not have (they don’t recall). The remainder absolutely didn’t take it last year. Since people are mostly different, the reported salary number is less of an indicator of what’s happening than the reported change in salary. We’re looking for change velocities more than dollar figures. And according to this year’s crop of respondents, fewer people this year reported having received a traditional salary increase last year (63% in 2020 compared to 73% in 2019). Expectations for future traditional salary increases are flat from last year (71% expected to earn more in coming year in both last year’s and this year’s results). But the number of people worried about making less in the coming year dropped from 8% in last year to 5% this year, a hint of relief of anxiety. It feels like we’re on the cusp of returning to normalcy. 

Another suggestive clue is in bonus reporting. Last year, when responding at the outset of the pandemic, respondents were more worried than usual about not receiving bonuses (page 41) in 2020. But it looks like some of those worries were unfounded, with more people actually having received bonuses in 2020 than had expected to. And more people this year expect to receive bonuses than did last year, another hint of greater confidence. Notably, a common tactic for businesses in uncertain times is to maintain compensatory continuity in the form of single-year bonuses instead of more permanent, lasting salary increases.

Respondents fared awfully well in terms of pandemic employment, with only 1% reporting unemployment compared to the 8% (at time of writing, even higher when responses were collected) national average. That stands to reason. Packaging was proven an essential job function during the last 16 months, and lots of brands/CPGs fared extremely well, struggling only to keep up with demand. As long as food, bev, and personal care CPGs could handle the swing away from foodservice and hospitality, and toward retail and e-comm, business was good. 

But respondents are still battle-worn from the last 16 months. One indicator that we’re not fully back to normal is that people are exhibiting quite limited job-seeking behavior (page 42). People are still in “hunker down and hold on to what ‘ya got” mode, and loyalty is high to companies who kept respondents employed in uncertain times. Job security is as high as we’ve seen it in this survey, and people are sticking around and avoiding the risk of seeking greener pastures.


Read article   Read last year's 2020 IoPP Salary Survey to compare trends to this year. It's notable that responses were collected for last year's 2020 Salary Survey while the pandemic spread and uncertainty was high. People were reasonably upbeat, but not as confident as this year. 


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