Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/190260
2013 SALARY SURVEY Job Function/Business Activity those without a degree. Workers lacking a college degree were also more likely to have seen their salaries decrease over the past year. However, a graduate degree did not appear to make much difference in salary levels in comparison to those with only a bachelor's degree. Predictably, lubrication professionals with only a high-school diploma received almost $10,000 less per year on average than those who had completed at least some college work. Almost half of all survey participants had achieved at least one professional certification, which also seemed to affect their pay rates. For example, respondents who had obtained a professional certification were almost twice as likely to have received a raise in the past year. In addition, maintenance and lubrication technicians who had earned a professional certification took home 7 percent more on average than those without any certification. "It has kind of turned into a requirement for my pay raise and bonus to continue every year," said one respondent about achieving professional certifications. "We have to do so many hours of training in a reliability-related field every year." Maintenance and lubrication technicians were also among the workers most likely to have a professional certification, along with workers in food processing, power generation, mining and paper industries. In addition, men were more likely than women to have earned a professional certification. The certifications that survey respondents most often listed as being paid more for included the International Council for Machinery Lubrication's Machine Lubricant Analyst (MLA) Level I, II and III certifications as well as the Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) Level I and II certifications. Bonuses/Benefits Although salaries only increased slightly, more bonuses were handed out in 2013 in comparison to the previous year, with 66 percent receiving some form of bonus. Respondents in the Northwest and Northeast were more likely to have received a bonus in the past year, as opposed to those in the Midwest and Southwest, and women were more likely than men to have been given a bonus in 2013. Little change was seen in benefits, with 96 percent of respondents receiving health insurance, 94 percent collecting 401(k) contributions and 40 percent of workers reporting profit sharing from their employer, which were only slightly higher numbers than in previous years. 36 September - October 2013 | www.machinerylubrication.com Nearly half of all respondents described their job function as either reliability or maintenance, with those in reliability or engineering taking home the highest salaries, and lubrication technicians earning the least amounts. Reliability engineers also received the largest raises over the past year. Power generation, food processing, chemicals or petroleum products was listed by the majority of survey participants as their organization's primary business activity. The average number of employees per facility was reported at just more than 800, with the largest plant having 30,000 workers. Interestingly, lubrication professionals working in facilities with at least 500 people earned 12 percent higher salaries than those in smaller plants with less than 500 workers. Almost 60 percent of survey participants said they do not supervise any employees. However, those who served as supervisors made almost $10,000 more per year on average and were more likely to have received a bonus in the past year. Length of Service On average, lubrication professionals worked longer hours than in previous years, with 79 percent putting in more than 40 hours each week. One-fourth of survey participants claimed to work more than 10 hours each day, while a few even said they worked 70 or more hours a week. These longer hours seemed to boost respondents' pay rates, as those working more than 40 hours a week earned 22 percent higher salaries and were much