The Creative Group has published its 2018 Salary Guide, which offers info on trends, startingsalaries and benefits, which will help you get a sense of where you stand.Here’s a look at the report’s take on current compensation practices. See how your compplanstacks up:

1. it’s about performance.Sixty-five percent of the employers who participated in The Creative Group’s research saidtheybase their comp decisions on a pay-for-performance model:• 37% offer spot awards for individual or team achievements• 20% offer profit sharing• 18% have retention bonuses• 18% offer some stock options, and• 16% give their employees deferred compensation.

2. Just 19% of those participating said they didn’t offer any form of bonus to their employees.Of the remainder:• 27% offer bonuses on the basis of individual or company performance• 22% combine individual, team and company performance• 16% base the bonus on individual achievement only, and• 8% based bonuses on company performance only.

3. How companies determine salary increases:• 72% base them on merit

• 38% use cost-of-living adjustments• 17% consider length of service• 16% use different criteria, like market data, and• 3% said they had no hard-and-fast standard for setting increases.

4. Time off: The Creative Group report said that on average, companies offer 14 days of paidvacation for the first five years of employment, plus nine paid holidays