![](\"http:\/\/squarehr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/employers-weigh-inflations-impact-on-annual-pay-raises-shrm-survey-shows.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/squarehr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/employers-weigh-inflations-impact-on-annual-pay-raises-shrm-survey-shows-1.jpg\")
<\/div>\nMost HR professionals are concerned about the effects of inflation on their organizations, including how inflation will affect annual pay raises for the remainder of 2022, according to new findings from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Research Institute.<\/p>\n
Overall, 73 percent of 1,150 HR professionals surveyed from May 10 to May 24, 2022, indicated that inflation was a concern at their organization, while only 8 percent said it was not a concern.<\/p>\n
Survey participants were randomly drawn from SHRM’s membership, and results were weighted to be nationally representative of HR professionals in the U.S.<\/p>\n
“Employers recognize that inflation can have a major impact on the well-being of their team,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, SHRM president and chief executive officer. “Many employers are re-examining their strategy when it comes to both pay and the overall employee experience. While many are still unsure about what will happen with pay, over half of those surveyed who’ve made a decision state that inflation will be factored into employee annual pay raises.”<\/p>\n
Pay Raises Trail Rising Prices<\/p>\n
The annual U.S. inflation rate hit 9.1 percent in June<\/a>, a fresh 40-year high, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on July 13. Salary and wage increases at U.S. companies, however, have not kept pace with rising prices:<\/p>\n With pay raises trailing inflation, the buying power of workers’ take-home pay has been shrinking. Real (inflation-adjusted) average hourly earnings, seasonally adjusted, fell 3 percent<\/a> from May 2021 to May 2022, the BLS separately reported in June.<\/p>\n HR’s Pay and Inflation Concerns<\/p>\n HR professionals responding to SHRM’s survey said the effects of rising costs on the lives of their employees was their greatest inflation-related concern. Among the roughly 70 percent of respondents who said they were aware of their organizations’ plans for annual pay raises, 63 percent reported that inflation was being considered or accounted for in annual pay raises this year. <\/p>\n That figure includes nearly 27 percent who said inflation is a standard part of their annual cost-of-living pay adjustments.<\/p>\n An organization’s size influenced whether it was more likely to consider inflation when setting annual pay raises. Among HR respondents who were aware of their organization’s pay raise plans, those who said that inflation is being considered or accounted for in annual pay raises included:<\/p>\n Other Findings<\/p>\n Among those who indicated inflation was a concern at their organizations, 87 percent said their “highest concern” was how inflation would affect the lives of employees, followed by the effects on customers and consumers (70 percent) and on suppliers and wholesale costs (61 percent).<\/p>\n Industries where survey participants were the most concerned about inflation included agriculture (97 percent of respondents), wholesale trade (95 percent), utilities and energy (82 percent), and manufacturing (82 percent).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n