MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate use
Contact: Timothy J. Murphy, CAE
317-875-3737
New MBSA Survey Gives Insights into Midwestern LBM Dealers’ Pay and Benefits Practices
INDIANAPOLIS (July 23, 2024)—A company’s size appears to play a key role in the type of compensation paid sales staff and benefits bestowed on all employees, a new survey of dealers in Indiana and Michigan suggests.
The just-released poll results from the Midwest Building Suppliers Association (MBSA) found that dealers with more than $12 million in annual sales were more likely to give bonuses based on company sales and profits than were dealers with less than $12 million in sales. When they did give bonuses to sales reps, the smaller dealers tended more toward payouts based on management discretion and undefined merit and performance measures.
Both groups favored plans that paid sales reps a base salary plus commission; none were commission-only.
The average company offered all its full-time employees 14.4 paid days off per year. Other parts of the survey included questions on dealer type, number of employees, male/female employee ratios, management incentives, the size of the last pay raise, reasons for pay raises, holiday bonus policies, benefits as a percentage of payroll, employee training, miscellaneous benefits like a mobile phone, and whether the company offered retirement and/or insurance plans.
“The respondents participated from Michigan and Indiana, and answered the rather exhaustive list of questions with data from their personnel files, Employee Handbooks, and financial statements,” said Tim Murphy, the MBSA’s executive vice president and CEO. “The questions were answered anonymously, as no identifying information of the respondent was sought. This was done in order to foster an environment of safety in revealing sensitive operational data among fellow members who, in many cases, are also competitors. We sincerely thank those members who took the time to research the questions to provide accurate data points, making this report a useful tool.”
The first survey of this type was done in 2021. It is interesting to note that the trends revealed then pretty much hold today, with only slight exception.
For more information or to request a copy of the Final Report, contact Tim Murphy at tmurphy@theMBSA.org.
