Compensation consultant Ann Bares, Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group, writes an outstanding blog on compensation and benefits issues. Among other things, she does a great job of tracking trends. Here are some of her recent observations:

Fortune's Most Admired Companies Pay Less - But Execute Better

Hay Group, which, along with Fortune magazine, publishes an annual Most Admired Companies List, reports that employers on that list pay about 5% less for talent than their peers. Hay Group also discovered the following about the Most Admired Companies:

• 79% regularly provide employees with total reward statements, versus 53% of peer group respondents
• 82% regularly reinforce the company’s reward philosophy in communications with employees, while only 64% of peer companies do the same
• 74% state that their employees understand and appreciate that rewards consist of both tangible and intangible components, compared with 61% of their peers
• 41% say that line managers in their organization create a positive work climate, whereas only 21% of peer companies respond similarly
• 28% state that line managers utilize financial and non-financial recognition programs, compared with 16% of peer companies
• 41% believe that their reward program is internally fair, while only 27% of their peers believe the same
• 48% report that their reward programs support efforts to retain their best talent, versus 28% of their peers
• 45% say that their reward program allows them to attract the talent they need, compared with 25% of their peers

The average turnover rate across all industries is 12.3%, but the rates range widely from industry to industry.

Ann provides the following excerpts from CompData’s 2007 Compensation Data Survey:

2007 Voluntary Turnover Rates by Industry

• Hospitality: 21.3%
• Healthcare: 15.5%
• Real Estate/Construction: 15.4%
• Distribution/Warehouse: 15.3%
• Other*: 15.1%
• Services: 14.7%
• Not-For-Profit: 13.7%
• Financial Services: 13.3%
• Technology: 10.6%
• Manufacturing: 10.2%
• Utilities: 6.5%

*Other includes organizations not otherwise classified, including retail, landscaping, newspaper and other organizations involving communications/media.

Executive Equity Awards Increasingly Tied to Performance

A study by Equilar, Inc. finds that the percent of shares (including outright stock grants as well as options) awarded with performance-based vesting criteria has nearly doubled over the past year, increasing from 8.2% of all shares awarded in Q4 2006 to 14.7% of all shares awarded in Q4 2007.

Companies Spend an Average of $1,202 per Employee on Training

Bersin & Associates’ 2008 Corporate Learning Factbook observes:

• The average spending per learner of $1,202 is roughly equivalent to last year. Spending varies significantly from industry to industry; the highest spending industry is finance & insurance ($1,061 per learner) and the lowest is retail ($594 per learner).
• 21% of all training dollars - overall - are spent on leadership development and management/supervisory training, making this the largest area of investment on a cross-industry basis. Not surprising given the increasing evidence that we are or soon will be facing a real deficit of leadership talent.
• While leadership/management training is a top priority overall, specific industries are investing heavily in other areas, including:
• In telecommunications, 23% of training program dollars are spent on customer service training
• Technology companies are spending 29% of training program dollars on sales training
• Pharmaceuticals are spending 25% of training program dollars on compliance and other mandatory training
• E-learning has grown dramatically. The use of self-study e-learning now accounts for 20% of student hours, up from 15% last year. Related to this, this year's study has also shown a sharp increase in new web-based and collaborative learning resources, including podcasts, blogs and wikis.

Adoption Benefits Increasing in Prevalence

Ann notes that “Adoption assistance is becoming an increasingly popular benefit. This trend is addressed in an article ‘Adoption Policies that Work for Your Company’ in the January 2008 issue of WorldatWork's workspan magazine.”