Hawaii Employers Council is pleased to release the results of its 2017 Information Technology Pay Rate Survey. Survey results indicate that Information Technology (IT) staff serve a key role in organizations across the state.
A total of eighty-six (86) organizations shaped the results of this year's Survey Report. By participating, these organizations shared insight into many areas, including staffing levels, work hours, bonus/incentives, and IT equipment support.
- IT Staffing
While there was variation in IT staffing levels depending on organization size and industry, sixty-two percent of participating organizations indicated that their IT departments are small, with somewhere between one and nine employees. Nineteen percent indicated that they had a whopping fifty or more IT employees, followed by eleven percent of respondents indicating that they have between ten and nineteen IT employees.
Eighty-six percent of responding organizations indicated that their IT staff belong to a non-bargaining workforce. Only 14% of the responding organizations indicated that their IT staff belong to a bargaining workforce.
- Hours of Work
Survey respondents also shared insights into how many hours their IT employees are working. Seventy-seven percent of organizations indicated that their IT staff generally work 40 hours per week, a figure which has remained consistent over the past five years. Fifty-four percent of organizations noted that IT staff work schedules begin at 8:00 a.m., which has also been consistent over the past five years.
Less than 20% of the organizations staff a second and/or third shift. Of those organizations offering these shifts, over 75% provide differential pay to employees working the second and/or third shift.
Although most organizations (66%) do not provide overtime or grant compensatory time-off to their exempt IT staff, 31% of organizations do have some kind of practice for recognizing extra work. The top four practices used to recognize non-supervisory exempt IT staff who work beyond their normal workweek include:
- Other (insufficient data was provided to identify specifics)
- Additional compensation at time and one-half
- Compensatory time off
- No additional compensation or time off
When comparing this year's data against 2016 survey results, it is interesting to note decreases in both the percentage of employers who provide compensatory time off and the percentage of employers who do not provide any additional compensation or time off.
- Bonus/Incentives
Organizations appear to be increasing their Referral Bonus, Sign-on Bonus and Retention Bonus for IT shortage positions. Since 2016, increases by 5.0%, 5.5% and 4.3% respectively have been reported.
That said, it should be noted that 42% of organizations do not provide a bonus or annual incentive compensation to IT workers. For those organizations providing some type of incentive compensation, 38.4% reported that discretionary incentives are the most utilized form of compensation.
- IT Equipment Support
Finally, when it comes to the kind of equipment IT staff are supporting, all survey respondents noted that the IT staff supports PC / Notebook computers. Respondents also reported that the following equipment are supported as well, where "other equipment" were noted to include telecommunications devices and cell phones.
HEC conducts a variety of compensation and benefits surveys to provide data useful in developing and administering compensation and benefit plans, and personnel policies. Custom snapshots and comparison reports from our compensation surveys are available, along with customized, proprietary surveys conducted on your behalf. Our Survey & Compensation experts can also work with members on employee opinion surveys to identify gaps between being an employer of choice and being merely an employer. For more information, please contact Cathy Keaulani, Survey & Compensation Services Manager (ckeaulani@hecouncil.org), or Susan Amuro, Survey & Compensation Analyst (samuro@hecouncil.org).