Regional economic group launches wages and benefits survey

Radius Indiana is conducting a Wage and Benefits Survey across several counties in southern Indiana — a first for the area.

The survey will gather employer pay and benefits information to help create a very accurate, up-to-date understanding of what the real-world labor market is like in southern Indiana.

Approximately 400 companies, with employee size ranging between 1 and 1,000 workers from 15 counties in the region, have been invited to participate in the survey. The survey asks about positions within each company, annual wages, and benefits employees receive and how those benefits translate financially, such as with health and life insurance. Topics such as time-off and leave, vacation, bereavement and paid holidays are also included in the survey.

“This survey will not only help employers in our region create an appropriate competitive work compensation package but will also be used to inform companies and businesses interested in locating or expanding in the Radius region,” said Jeff Quyle, CEO and president of Radius Indiana. “We are excited to be able to facilitate this survey for our region and will share our results with the companies completing the survey and each participating county’s local economic development organization.”

Radius is collaborating with additional counties in the 11-county Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) region of Southwest Central Indiana known as the Indiana Uplands, and counties within the Southwest Indiana Development Council (SWIDC) area to provide a broader regional snapshot of the labor market in southern Indiana.

The consultant on the survey, Kevin Whorton of Whorton Marketing and Research, created the survey framework and then collaborated with Radius as well as select test companies to develop the final questionnaire. With help from each county’s local economic development organization, companies were identified and emailed a unique link to access the survey in mid-September. The full report on the survey’s findings is planned for release in early 2019.

While this is the first large-scale wage and benefit survey for the region, a similar effort in recent years conducted in Dubois County showed the potential value of capturing this type of data. Dubois Strong has been a strong advocate for the Radius Wage and Benefit survey, which expands on the work of its county-specific survey and broadens the scope and understanding of hundreds of companies located in this part of the state.

“It is very important for businesses to have the best wage and benefit information available to attract and retain employees in a very low unemployment environment,” said Ed Cole, President of Dubois Strong.