With the next 12 months, a majority of U.S. employers plan to reverse some of the changes they’ve been making to their pay, benefits and other HR programs, according to the latest update in June to an ongoing series of surveys by Watson Wyatt.

Watson Wyatt finds that 62 percent of the companies that made hiring freezes and 69 percent of those that made salary freezes plan to eliminate them within the next 12 months. Also, 48 percent that have reduced their employer 401(k)/403(b) matches plan to reinstate them in the same timeframe.

Although the results indicate that more employers feel that the worst of the current downturn may be behind them, “most are not expecting to go back to ‘business as usual’,” says Watson Wyatt spokesperson Laura Sejen. According to the survey results, one in five employers (20 percent) will keep salary reductions in place, and another 20 percent are unsure. Nearly half (46 percent) do not plan to reverse the increases in the percentage that employees now pay for health care premiums. In the next three to five years, more than half (52 percent) of companies surveyed expect that staff sizes will decrease from pre-economic crisis levels, Watson Wyatt reports.