Human Resources: Watson Wyatt Data Services releases its 2009/2010 Survey Report on Health Care Clinical & Profession

ROCHELLE PARK, N.J., (May 12, 2009) - Watson Wyatt Data Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, today announced the publication of its 2009/2010 Survey Report on Health Care Clinical & Professional Personnel Compensation.
The data collected in this reference are based on the responses of 388 organizations encompassing 1,647 locations reporting data on 499,859 incumbents. Data are broken down by a total of 79 geographic areas and nine industry classifications.

Based upon requests from clients, three positions were added to this year's survey. The new positions are as follows:

*       Infection Control Coordinator (Non-RN)
*       Infection Control Coordinator (RN)
*       Patient Care Technician

Compensation Increases

In organizations providing data for both the 2008/2009 and the 2009/2010 surveys, salaries increased an average of 3.1 percent and total cash compensation increased an average of 3.2 percent. Incumbents in the Patient Services function experienced the highest average salary increase at 3.9 percent, while employees in the Nursing - Home Care function received the highest average total cash compensation increase at 4.5 percent. On the low end, staff physicians and clinicians received an average salary increase of 2.6 percent, while employees in the Clinical Research function received an average total cash compensation increase of 2.7 percent.

Average increases to salaries varied by 2.3 percentage points across all industries surveyed, while the average increases to total cash compensation varied by slightly more at 3.4 percentage points. Employees in Health Care Finance and Insurance Industry Group experienced the highest increase to salary and total cash compensation at 4.1 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively. The Ambulatory Health Care Services Industry Group experienced the lowest increase to salary and total cash compensation at 1.8 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Average increases to salaries and total cash compensation varied by less than one percentage point across all five regions. Health Care Clinical and Professional personnel in the West Coast Region experienced the highest increase to both salary and total cash compensation at 3.7 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. Employees in the Southeast Region experienced the lowest increase to salary at 2.8 percent, while incumbents in the North Central Region experienced the lowest increase to total cash compensation at 3 percent.

Within the entire sample combined, 35 positions received salary and/or total cash compensation increases that exceeded the overall average increases by at least 25 percent. The following seven positions in the overall sampled received increases to total cash compensation of at least 5 percent:

*       Head Nurse - Critical Care Unit
*       Head Nurse - Emergency Room
*       Head Nurse - Obstetrics
*       Medical Technologist - Microbiology
*       Outpatient Nurse - RN
*       Prosthetist/Orthotist
*       Psychiatrist
Bonus/Variable Pay Program Trends

Within organizations providing data to both the 2008/2009 and the 2009/2010 surveys, the average percentage of employees receiving a bonus and/or other cash compensation payment increased by 1.8 percent.

Bonus and/or other cash compensation payments averaged 3.6 percent of salary for all salary levels combined with an average of 8.7 percent of Health Care Clinical and Professional personnel receiving a payment. On the high side, incumbents earning more than $150,000 received short-term incentives averaging 9.4 percent of salary while incumbents paid between $50,000 and $99,999 received an average of 3 percent of salary. The percentage of personnel receiving short-term incentive payments ranged from a high of 10.4 percent for employees paid between $100,000 and $149,999 to a low of 8.1 percent of employees paid between $30,000 and $49,999.

The average percentage of employees receiving bonus and/or other cash compensation payments varied significantly across all industry groups surveyed while the actual average short-term incentive payments varied slightly. The Health Care Finance and Insurance Industry Group had both the highest percentage of employees receiving bonus and/or other cash compensation (60.7 percent) and the highest short-term incentive (4.4 percent of salary), while the Residential Care Facilities Industry Group had both the lowest percentage of employees receiving bonus and/or other cash compensation (6.6 percent) and the lowest short-term incentive (2 percent of salary).

Health care clinical and professional personnel in the Northeast Region received average short-term incentive payments of 4.4 percent of salary, while incumbents in the South Central Region received 2.7 percent. Among those surveyed, 10.8 percent of employees in the West Coast Region received bonus and/or other cash compensation payments, while 7.8 percent of the incumbents in the Northeast Region received a payment.

While the vast majority of participating organizations (95.6 percent) do not have bonus targets formally established, on average 55.9 percent of employees with bonus targets received a payment, while only 4.1 percent of those without bonus targets received a payment.

The 2009/2010 Survey Report on Health Care Clinical & Professional Personnel Compensation is available online, or as an online/printed report set.

About Watson Wyatt Data Services
Watson Wyatt Data Services (WWDS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Watson Wyatt Worldwide (ranked 980 on CNN Money's FORTUNE 1000 list of top companies for 2009), is a leading provider of compensation, benefits and employment practices information to the global employer community. From offices around the world, we solicit, analyze and publish an extensive library of printed, interactive and online survey reports. Our compensation databases are recognized worldwide as the most reliable source of current data for compensation planning.

Global scope, local knowledge ...
Covering 97 countries across six continents, our data centers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America annually compile reports on the remuneration, benefits and employment practices of local and multinational companies. Our "in-country" experts apply their local knowledge of the varied employment markets, practices and customs to deliver a complete compensation picture that can be used to create sound, market-based pay programs for entire institutions. Our international databases contain compensation information covering millions of employees based on the annual survey participation of organizations ranging from emerging growth companies to many of the world's largest conglomerates.

In addition to compensation surveys, WWDS also publishes references that help HR practitioners attract, retain and reward exceptional employees. These guides cover a wide variety of subject areas, including variable pay, performance management and personnel policies on a local, regional and global basis. For more information, visit our Web site at WWDS.com.