WARREN — The Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber is undertaking a wage and benefits survey it says can help existing businesses keep talented workers and for companies considering the local market, become familiar with the labor pool.

The survey asks for information about the company, including industry and contact, type of benefits offered and starting and median wages for a variety of occupations.

“It’s really important for companies to be part of this survey so we can get accurate data back, so we can say in our market here is what the going wage is for a specific occupation … here is what the benefits are and by using all of that data combined, it will help the company develop a compensation package that will then help them keep good workers or help them attract new workers,” said Michelle Phillips, director of research for the chamber.

The chamber has found employees will leave a company for another for a small wage increase not realizing the original employer supplemented the pay with benefits.

“So having the benefits portion of this, whether it’s the medical or health care side or company perks, is a huge advantage because we are seeing it’s not only wages, but it’s benefits because the new workers coming up are looking for lifestyle work,” Phillips said.

The final report will be available to businesses that participate for free; other businesses can access the information, but for a fee. The report will contain aggregate results and will not identify any company by name. Also, individual questionnaire information is kept confidential and will not be shared with other entities.

The survey is open through June 25. It is available at regionalchamber.com/wagesurvey.

Data included also can help companies exploring the market. Knowing the going wage rates, Phillips said, can help those companies adjust their budget and expenses.

Results will be published in August. To entice companies to participate, there will be drawings from the pool of submissions on the last day of each month to win a gift card to a chamber-member restaurant.

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