MRAA releases 2017 compensation study results

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced that it has released its 2017 MRAA Compensation Study results, which detail the compensation ranges for 35 common job descriptions in the retail sector of the marine industry.

More than 2,600 position-level responses were collected from a total of 292 retail locations for this in-depth report, which was created in response to an industry-driven desire to identify staffing and compensation trends for retail employees across North America. The results of the study are being shared with the industry through an Executive Summary, a Full Report and a Dynamic Online Compensation Calculator.

“After completing a comprehensive workforce assessment in 2016, we heard the message loud and clear that dealers believed that they could not compete with compensation packages from other industries,” said Matt Gruhn, president of MRAA. “With no comprehensive compensation-related information or resources in our industry, MRAA set out to define compensation levels, benefits packages and more, to provide a baseline for understanding and acting on the workforce challenges we face.”

The full 30-page Compensation Study Report boasts insights into salary and hourly compensation ranges for 35 common marine retail job descriptions. It dives into benefits offered at retail operations, year-over-year compensation increases, additional cash compensation packages, and much more. The study’s Dynamic Online Calculator allows dealers, then, to customize their own compensation research by narrowing their criteria by geographic region, geographic location, revenue size and more. It also breaks down compensation by 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles, whereas the full printed report only highlights the 10th, 50th and 90th.

“We wanted to ensure that we not only captured relevant data to help MRAA continue to address workforce needs,” Gruhn said, “but also that the data was useful to the dealer body in identifying and reacting to compensation and benefit trends so they can remain competitive in today’s workforce environment. This calculator provides them an incredible tool along those lines.”

You can learn more about the 2017 MRAA Compensation Study here.

Those businesses that participated in the survey were emailed a copy of the Executive Summary, a high-level overview of the study, including salary information on the most common dealership positions, as well as a link to the Full Report and Online Calculator and a promo code for a $50 discount on the package.

A snapshot of the report shares a snapshot of the national pay scale for a parts department associate, compared to a parts department associate from the Midwest region. Under the “Your Selections” part of this report, that the data can be broken down by location; region (metro area, suburb, etc); revenue totals; whether or not they have a marina; and/or the number of locations in the organization.

“There are countless ways we can compare compensation levels around the industry, and we believe that this will make for an extremely valuable tool for our dealers,” said Gruhn. 

The entire compensation study package can be purchased for $299, and it includes the Executive Summary, the Full Report and full access to the Online Compensation Calculator, including unlimited searches and reports on unlimited job descriptions and comparisons. MRAA Retail and Partner Members receive a $50 discount if they are logged in upon purchase. The reports can be purchased here.

This research was made possible in part by the contributions of SeaDek Marine Products and the ABYC Foundation, who sponsored the effort financially.

For more information, visit MRAA.com or call 763-315-8043.

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