MRO Today - Maintenance money

Maintenance money
Are you making a competitive wage, or are you getting the shaft? Compdata Surveys' findings on maintenance department salaries provide answers.

by Paul V. Arnold

How much money do you make? And, just as important, are you making your fair share? Information supplied to MRO Today magazine by a Kansas-based statistical analysis firm may give you an idea of where you stand, or should be standing.

Compdata Surveys of Olathe, Kan., interviewed more than 5,000 companies in 29 states for its 1998 study of salaries and benefits. The results were released last fall.

The companies taking part in the survey collectively employ more than 3.5 million people spanning hundreds of job titles. More than 1.5 million of those employees work at manufacturing facilities. Manufacturing job titles ranged from security guard to assembly line worker to chief executive officer.

This article will focus on eight job titles from the maintenance department. Compdata obtained information on nearly 25,000 maintenance employees with the title of:
- maintenance mechanic
- senior maintenance mechanic
- maintenance supervisor
- senior maintenance supervisor
- maintenance manager
- maintenance electrician
- senior maintenance electrician, or
- HVAC mechanic.

Two kinds of pay increases
An overview of the 1998 statistics regarding pay to maintenance workers shows mediocre and good news.

In a year with mixed economic results nationally and globally, pay to "current" maintenance employees increased by a decent yet non-resounding 4 percent from 1997 levels. That increase mirrored similar increases during the previous two years. Current employees are defined as those who have been with the interviewed company for at least one year.

"Inflation affects pay increases," says Compdata's Theresa Worman. "Because there has been little inflation, pay increases have not increased dramatically."

However, employers significantly increased their pay rates for "new" maintenance employees. New employees were hired by the company within the last year.

"Starting pay, or hire-on rates, was one of the most significant trends (of 1998)," says Worman. "The low unemployment rate made for a tight labor market. In an effort to successfully recruit new employees in today's competitive market, employers have increased the rates offered to new employees. Someone looking for a maintenance job, or someone already employed who is checking what other companies pay for maintenance openings, will see they're offering a lot more now than they were in 1997."

The increases varied widely in different regions of the country.

In the West Region (Compdata survey respondents from California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas and Washington), hire-on rates increased 10.25 percent from 1997 levels.

In the Central (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin), rates increased 9.38 percent.

In the East (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island), rates increased 7.35 percent.

And in the South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia), rates increased 6.05 percent.

According to Worman, the lofty West and Central figures can be attributed to labor shortages and higher cost-of-living expenses.

What do those figures mean to the wallet? If a company listed the starting pay for a maintenance mechanic job as $25,000 in 1997, an 8 percent increase in hire-on pay bumped that starting salary to $27,000 in 1998. Worman sees the trend continuing for as long as the job market remains soft.

Dollars and percents
Enough overview. Let's get to the salary specifics for each job, starting with the highest-paying maintenance position and working down.

Just a note. None of the salary figures listed include overtime pay. Bonuses, merit pay and similar payments are listed under incentives.

Maintenance manager
Responses: Compdata received information from 721 companies on 969 maintenance managers.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $54,699. At large
companies (600 or more employees), the average was $58,218. Overall, salaries ranged from $44,525 (25th percentile, meaning you make more money than 25 percent of your peers) to $52,900 (50th percentile) to $62,512 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $48,791.
Incentives: 10.4 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to maintenance managers. The average incentive earned was 13.3 percent of the base salary. For a $55,000 salary, that's an additional $7,315.
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Senior maintenance supervisor
Responses: 501 companies, 1,249 senior maintenance supervisors.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $46,129. At large
companies, the average was $48,367. Overall, salaries ranged from $38,169 (25th percentile) to $45,494 (50th percentile) to $52,938 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $39,713.
Incentives: 6.5 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to senior maintenance supervisors. The average incentive was 8.8 percent ($4,048 on a $46,000 salary).
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Maintenance supervisor
Responses: 975 companies, 2,392 maintenance supervisors.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $39,529. At large
companies, the average was $41,115. Overall, salaries ranged from $32,240 (25th percentile) to $38,917 (50th percentile) to $46,025 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $34,476.
Incentives: 6.1 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to maintenance supervisors. The average incentive was 10.9 percent ($4,360 on a $40,000 salary).
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Senior maintenance electrician
Responses: 391 companies, 2,023 senior maintenance electricians.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $37,262. At large companies, the average was $38,467. Overall, salaries ranged from $32,598 (25th percentile) to $36,920 (50th percentile) to $41,600 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $32,140.
Incentives: 2.7 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to senior maintenance electricians. The average incentive was 13.9 percent ($5,143 on a $37,000 salary).
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Senior maintenance mechanic
Responses: 604 companies, 4,089 senior maintenance mechanics.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $33,514. At large
companies, the average was $34,054. Overall, salaries ranged from $29,120 (25th percentile) to $33,134 (50th percentile) to $37,378 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $29,196.
Incentives: 1.7 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to senior maintenance mechanics. The average incentive was 12.5 percent ($4,250 on a $34,000 salary).
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HVAC mechanic
Responses: 273 companies, 1,300 HVAC mechanics.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $33,135. At large
companies, the average was $33,890. Overall, salaries ranged from $28,558 (25th percentile) to $32,698 (50th percentile) to $37,690 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $28,565.
Incentives: 2.7 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to HVAC mechanics. The average incentive was 12.3 percent ($4,059 on a $33,000 salary).
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Maintenance electrician
Responses: 617 companies, 3,700 maintenance electricians.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $31,874. At large
companies, the average was $33,446. Overall, salaries ranged from $27,700 (25th percentile) to $31,647 (50th percentile) to $36,171 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $27,913.
Incentives: 3.0 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to maintenance electricians. The average incentive was 17.7 percent ($5,664 on a $32,000 salary).
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Maintenance mechanic
Responses: 1,234 companies, 8,616 maintenance mechanics.
Salary stats: The average base rate salary was $28,059. At large
companies, the average was $28,501. Overall, salaries ranged from $23,774 (25th percentile) to $27,830 (50th percentile) to $31,886 (75th percentile). The average hire rate was $24,740.
Incentives: 2.4 percent of surveyed companies gave incentive pay to maintenance mechanics. The average incentive was 9.1 percent ($2,548 on a $28,000 salary).
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Compdata Surveys' full salary report can be obtained for $479 by calling 800-300-9570. To include your company in the next survey, call, or visit their website at compdatasurvey.com. Participants can receive a report for $249.

This article appeared in the April/May 1999 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright 1999.