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October 2014 ForResidentialPros.com | 33 est compensation was seen at dealerships whose sales volume exceeded $2 million annually; however, there was far less of a correlation be- tween salary and dealership sales volume among those working at frms doing less than $2 million in annual sales volume. But, while multiple fac- tors were shown to impact salary, according to survey results, gender was the num- ber one predictor of salary, with women scoring far lower salaries across all categories. THE GENDER GAP Recent White House reports noted that full-time working women earn roughly 77% of what their male counterparts earn. And, from the survey results, it appears the kitch- en and bath industry is not immune to this gender gap. Not only did female designer/ salespeople surveyed repre- sent a whopping 71.4% of the lowest salary range (see Graph 3), but, disturbingly, it appears that the correlation between gender and salary was stronger than the cor- relation between years of experience and salary, geo - graphic region of the country and salary, or professional ac- creditations and salary. "Ever yone t h inks t he gender gap is a myth, that it's some retro 1950s thing that's long past, but the truth is, it's still alive and well in the 21st century," noted one East Coast designer. She added, "Although it's a female dominated feld, there's still a 'boys' club' in play, and the men still tend to command the top salaries." However, it's not all bad news: At the higher salary ranges, the wage disparity between the genders was far less evident, with women accounting for 40% of those making between $100,000 and $150,000 annually and a third of those earning $150,000+. This represents a vast improvement over the results of a similar sur- vey conducted in 2012, where women represented only a third of those mak- ing $100,000-$150,000 and 16.7% of those earning in excess of $150,000 per year. PROJECTED INCREASES While more than a quarter of those polled reported receiv- ing a raise this year, and more than half reported receiving a raise sometime in the past two years (see Graph 4), oth- er designer/salespeople were not so fortunate. In fact, more than a third (35.2%) of those polled said their last raise dates back before 2011. However, looking ahead, the view was a bit more optimistic, with nearly half (44.7%) a nt icipat i ng i n- creased earnings for 2015 as compared to 2014 (see Graph 5). "It seems to be getting better," one Midwest de- signer noted. "There were a couple of years where you were fghting to get any jobs at all, but now the clients are coming back, and the money is coming back in. This year has been pretty good for me so far, and I think next year is going to be even better." COMPUTING COMPENSATION There are a variety of ways to calculate compensation, but most frms seem to go with hourly wages, straight sal- ary, salary plus commission or commission against draw. Of those polled, more than a third (36.2%) said they are paid salary plus commission, while 21.9% receive a straight salary, 23% are paid commis- sion against draw and 18.9% are paid hourly (see Graph 6). Those who work on com- mission reported a pretty even split between salary and commission income, citing an average of 49.85% of their in - come coming in the form of salary and 50.15% coming in the form of commission. These numbers are simi- lar to 2012 numbers, though the number of respondents paid on an hourly basis has dropped by several percent- age points, suggesting that, in the light of a recovering economy, dealerships may be moving away from part-time hourly help in favor of hiring full-time salaried staf to man showrooms that are seeing more trafc. Interestingly, there has been a shift in how commis- sions are paid, with 37.2% being paid on the net proft of the job (see Graph 7), up from 29.3% in 2012, 33.3% being paid on the gross proft of the job, compared to 38.6% in 2012, and 29.5% being paid on the actual price of the job, compared to 32.1% in 2012. As far as benefts are con- cerned, similar to 2012, paid vacation/sick time topped the list of most commonly ofered benefts, followed by medical insurance, an end- of-year bonus, a 401K plan with company contributions and proft sharing. Far fewer respondents reported receiving dental in- surance, disability insurance or a company vehicle. While the majority of those polled said medical insurance is part of their benefts pack- age, that number is down by nearly 10% compared to 2012, perhaps a result of the rising costs of medical insur- ance premiums. 4. When Designer/Salespeople Received Their Last Salary Increase Before 2011 35.2% In 2014 26.4% In 2013 25.2% In 2012 - 10.1% In 2011 - 3.1% Decreasing - 1.5% 5. How Designer/Salespeople See Their 2015 Compensation Increasing 44.7% Staying the Same 53.8% 6. How Designer/Salespeople Are Paid Straight Salary 21.9% Salary + Commission 36.2% Commission Against Draw 23.0% Hourly 18.9% 7. How Commissions Are Calculated On the net proft of the job 37.2% On the price of the job 29.5% On the gross proft of the job 33.3%