Behind the Survey
The NMHC Compensation and Benefits survey, now in its sixth year, is the industry’s most comprehensive source for benchmarking multifamily compensation and benefits. This year’s report includes data from 109 leading apartment firms covering nearly 50,000 employees in 65 different positions. New this year, the 2005 survey adds 35 corporate and regional positions to the 30 on-site property management positions traditionally covered.
The survey includes:
- Base salary, variable pay, total com pensation, and more
- Median compensation data, as well as 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentile data
- Data organized into five regions, 11 sub-regions, 39 states plus Washington, D.C., 46 consolidated metro areas, and 96 metro areas
- Data on employee turnover, rent concessions, medical coverage, leave, stock options, bonuses, and profit sharing
Finally, for the first time ever, all orders include a new compensation planning report with key data on employee turnover, bonus, variable pay, long-term incentive programs, and recruitment. It also includes detailed information on employer-sponsored benefits, compensation philosophies, and pay determination.
This research relies on the involvement and support of sponsoring multifamily companies nationwide. Survey sponsors include AIMCO, Archstone-Smith, AvalonBay Communities, BlackRock Realty, Concord Management, Equity Residential, Fairfield Residential, Gables Residential Trust, Irvine Apartment Management Co., JPI Partners, Post Properties, Sares-Regis Group, Trammell Crow Residential Co., and United Dominion Realty Trust.
For more information about the NMHC Compensation and Benefits survey, or to order a copy, visit www.nmhc.org/Content/ServeContent.cfm?ContentItemID=3607 or contact NMHC’s Mechelle Scott at 202-974-2349.
Compensation 101
Lane Co. beefs up its benefits. Atlanta-based Lane Co. is in the process of retooling its compensation program. We talked to Bill Garrett, Lane’s vice president of associate services, to find out why and how they undertook this project.
MFE: What specific factors prompted Lane to revamp its compensation program?
BG: We decided to revamp the base pay and variable pay portion because we had nothing in place to enable us to make good decisions concerning compensation. Since we had no structured base pay program in place, we were hindered in determining what levels of variable pay to give. We needed to look at both to determine if we were paying the right amounts of total cash comp.
MFE: What has been the biggest challenge in creating a new and improved program?
BG: This is a huge project! It is by far one of the biggest projects the HR team has ever undertaken. The logistics of gathering job data, obtaining consensus on what the job tasks really consist of, and collating this info into one position definition is incredibly labor-intensive and time-consuming. Also, this is not just an HR project; it is a company project. To be successful you have to have participation on all levels of the company. The executive team has to be an active participant in the process. This group will be responsible for performing the job task analysis and coming to a consensus on what the job is actually worth internally. If the senior leaders won’t participate at this level, there will be limited buy-in and no ownership. This dooms the project to failure.
MFE: How did you address this problem?
BG: Our CEO, Bill Donges, was engaged from the beginning. He saw the value and the need for Lane to engage in this exercise to allow us to remain competitive as we grow. His leadership and encouragement brought the remainder of the leadership team on board.
MFE: How did you determine what changes to make?
BG: We are still in this part of the process. But our methodology consists of defining the jobs, determining value internally and then–and I believe this is most important–going to the market to look at the value of our jobs in the real world. From this data, and from the compensation philosophy established by Lane leadership, we will determine how to structure our compensation plans and how we will deal with any adjustments needed to current compensation levels to bring them in line with our new structure.