Thelander PC Digest: December 2024

Exclusive Data: Salary Increase Percentages

As 2024 comes to a close, what better topic to dive into than salary increases and bonuses? 

Drawing on the findings from the recently published Thelander Private Company Year-End Merit Increase, Option Pool & Bonus Report, we’ll explore who received a salary increase for 2025, what the percentage was, and the driving factors behind them. Our analysis spans various industries and levels of company financing to discern which factors significantly influence these increases. Let’s start with staff-level employees. 

The likelihood of a staff-level employee receiving a salary increase went up as the total amount of financing the company raised to date increased. 

In speaking to our clients this month, we heard that executives had budgeted salary increases of approximately 4 to 4.5% for their staff-level (below the director level) employees. This 4% increase aligns precisely with the median market number for companies that have secured more than $15 million in total financing. Notably, the highest recorded salary increase for staff-level employees was 4.4%, observed at the 75th percentile among companies with funding between $50 and $89.9 million.

What factors influence salary increases?

In 2024, merit or performance-based increases were predominant, followed by cost of living or annual salary adjustments.

Year-over-year analysis reveals a shift: cost of living adjustments were less common, while promotions to roles of higher value or requiring greater skill surged in popularity compared to the end of 2023.

As Jody, our founder and CEO, often emphasizes, the percentage of salary increase should be evaluated in relation to base pay and market benchmarks. She notes, “it is also important to consider the role’s value to the organization as well as the individual, their skills and level of contribution. All these factors need to be considered in determining appropriate compensation adjustments.”

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The Thelander Digest is powered by the Thelander Private Company Compensation dataset. To trial our platform and see the depth and breadth of Thelander data for yourself – participate in our surveys here. Why participate? 

There is no cost to participate and when you complete your survey response, you secure FREE access to real-time comp data for the next 12 months.

Thelander data is specific to the unique needs of private companies – no public company comp included.

We cover all your compensation needs from non-investor board comp, option pool, salary increases, change of control, severance and more. 

We have customizable job architectures for your staff-level employees that can also include job matching.