Employee Compensation

·         Forty-two percent of small employers report that a majority of their full-time employees are paid hourly wages, 32 percent report that a majority are salaried employees and less than 1 percent report that a majority are paid on commission. Twenty-six percent of small employers report a mix of all three types of pay.

·         Part-time employees are predominantly paid on an hourly basis. Forty-six percent of small employers report that the majority of their part-time employees are paid hourly wages and 8 percent report that a majority are salaried. Thirty-four percent of small employers report that they do not employ any part-time employees.

·         Thirty-eight percent of small employers pay overtime to everyone who works more than 40 hours a week. Almost 35 percent of small employers do not have any employees who work overtime. And 10 percent determine employee overtime eligibility using common industry practices.

·         Most small businesses (53%) have no full-time employees in exempt positions, meaning that all of their employees are potentially eligible for overtime pay assuming employees satisfy the salary threshold criterion. Twenty-one percent of small businesses report that all their employees are exempt.

·         Of small employers who report having at least one exempt employee, 44 percent indicate that some part of their currently exempt workforce earn less than $50,440 per year and will thus become newly eligible for overtime pay under the proposed overtime rule.

·         The vast majority of small employers (73%) offer paid time off (PTO) to the majority of their full-time employees, and 67 percent of them offer two weeks or more of leave. The number of days offered is dependent on an employee’s length of service in 76 percent of small businesses offering the benefit.

·         Over 3/4 of small employers (77%) offer paid vacation to the majority of their full-time employees, with 64 percent of them offering two weeks or more.

·         Fifty-six percent of small employers offer paid sick leave to the majority of their full-time employees with 43 percent of them offering one week or more paid sick leave. The number of days offered is dependent on employee’s length of service in 36 percent of small businesses offering the benefit.

·         Nearly 80 percent of small employers offer paid major holidays to the majority of their full-time employees.

·         Approximately 38 percent of small employers offer a retirement plan to the majority of their full-time employees, and about half of them offer a 401(k). Of those who offer, 52 percent report that all their employees participate in the plan.

·         About 71 percent of small employers offer flexible working hours for the majority of their fulltime employees.

·         The vast majority of small employers do not have a formal policy for handling time-off requests but rather deal with them on a case by case basis. About 86 percent of small employers handle time-off requests due to a serious illness or birth or adoption of a child on a case by case basis. For short periods of time off, approximately 78 percent of small employers handle requests on a case by case basis.

·         About half of small employers keep records on the time employees spend out for family leave, and 43 percent keep records on the time employees spend out on short periods of time.