2010 Salary Survey Shows Positive Salary Trends

By Kim Harden

(reprinted from Dietary Manager, January 2011)

The results of our 2010 Salary and Benefits Survey, conducted in three waves of online invitations in October and November, show positive salary trends. An impressive number of respondents—3,287 total—provided information on their wages, benefits, facility, and geographic region. Participants also supplied personal information on level of education, certification, and years of experience in the industry. Based on those factors, salaries for dietary managers—and those with similar job titles—are reported here.

An Overview of Survey Findings

The majority (97 percent) of survey respondents indicated they worked full-time. About 68 percent reported they were salaried employees. The majority of survey participants (63 percent) indicated they worked in small town/rural areas with populations less than 100,000.  About 8 percent indicated their annual salary was less than $25,000, while 21 percent had annual salaries over $55,000.  The average annual salary in 2010 was calculated to be $45,423—a 6 percent increase over 2008’s average annual salary of $42,786.

Analysis of the survey findings also revealed:

• Years of industry experience positively impacts salary.
• Respondents that had salaried positions earned more than those with hourly positions.
• Participants employed in continuous care retirement communities and the military earned the highest salaries.
• Participants working in a major city or suburb earned substantially higher salaries than those in rural areas.
• The greater the number of employees a dietary manager supervises, the larger their paycheck.
• Those with a bachelor’s degree or “Dietary Managers Course Completion” earned higher salaries.
• Survey participants in Region 1 and Region 9 earned higher salaries.

How to Read the Survey Data

To determine how your salary rates, find the data that most closely represents you. For example, under level of education, find the appropriate level completed. Find your geographic region by using the map to see similar data and corresponding salaries in your part of the country.  After you have collected all figures that apply to you, list these salaries from low to high. This is your personal salary range.

With so many regional, educational, and personal considerations to take into account, it is not possible to provide you with a precise figure. However, by utilizing the published graphs and data, you can obtain a salary range that best fits your personal and professional profile.

How you use this information is up to you. Let’s say your current salary falls on the low side of your range. Take this information to your facility director to ask why, and if there is a way to narrow the gap. Or, if your current salary is on the high end of the range, then it may be time to consider more education, certification, or relocating to another area of the country to advance your career.

Profile of Participants

The majority of respondents (97 percent) were CDM, CFPPs.  About 62 percent indicated they had completed the Dietary Managers Course, as compared to 63 percent in 2008. About 14 percent indicated they had a bachelor’s degree, compared to 13 percent in 2008. Another 13 percent stated they had an associate’s degree. This was the same in 2008.

Roughly 43 percent of the participants responded that they worked in a long-term care/nursing home. About 21 percent indicated they worked in a hospital.  Another 9 percent worked in continuous care retirement communities.

Regarding the number of hours dietary managers spend cooking, 64 percent of those interviewed reported they did not cook at all. Another 23 percent indicated they cooked anywhere from 30 minutes to 10 hours a week.

Geographically, the majority of respondents live in Region 3 (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee); Region 4 (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky); and Region 5 (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana).   Explore the map to find your region.

Size of Facility

As shown in the graph, nearly 20 percent of respondents reported working in facilities with an average daily census between 101 and 150 people.  About 30 percent indicated they served between 1 to 25 meals per day beyond the meals prepared for patients and residents.  More than 28 percent of participants had an annual dietary budget between $200,000 and $500,000.  The number of respondents indicating they had annual budgets of $500,000 to $1,000,000, is down from 15.6 percent in 2008 to 13 percent in 2010.   This is not a surprising number when the recent economic slump is taken into account. 

When polled concerning the number of employees that reported to them, about 22 percent indicated they had 11-15 employees reporting to them.  Another 21 percent have 6-10 employees reporting to them.  The majority of respondents (81 percent) indicated they had no CDMs reporting to them.

About 12 percent of the participants indicated they had no dietitian coverage in their facilities, while 42 percent had coverage of about 10 hours a week or less.  About 27 percent indicated that they had a full-time dietitian working in their facility.

The majority of survey participants (63 percent) worked in facilities in small towns/rural areas with a population under 100,000.

Benefits

In any salary survey, benefits are an important issue. Most participants in this survey identified types of benefits included in their compensation plans. Paid holidays, life insurance, pension plan or 401(k) plan, medical insurance, and dental insurance were among the top five benefits selected.

About 49 percent of the participants received paid vacation as a benefit.  Another 45 percent selected paid time off (PTO).  More than 53 percent receive paid sick days.  Average paid vacation per year was 16.3 days.  An average paid sick days per year was 11.2 days.  Average paid time off per year was 18.1 days. 

The Survey Process at a Glance

Our Web-based Salary and Benefits Survey was published in the October issue of DIETARY MANAGER magazine and compiled by Perception Solutions, a company specializing in data collection and analysis. All members with viable e-mail addresses were contacted and invited to participate.

The survey, which consisted of 23 questions, was sent in three waves of e-mail invitations to 10,551 members. Of that number, 446 e-mails were undeliverable. A total of 3,242 completed the survey online. Additionally, 45 members mailed or faxed the paper version to Perception Solutions, resulting in a 32 percent return rate. This rate of response was deemed by Perception Solutions as an acceptable and statistically valid sample size.

A Word of Thanks

To all the busy dietary managers who took the time to complete and return the reporting form, we extend our thanks. Greater participation means we can provide you with more accurate results. Those results mean better information for you to utilize in your own salary assessment.

Our goal in compiling the results of the 2010 Salary and Benefits Survey is to give you a valuable resource for furthering your career goals. We hope it comes as an encouragement and support to you.   Refer to it when you need a reminder that the more education you receive and the more networking you do, the better prepared you are to advance your career and keep growing professionally.

Kim Harden is ANFP’s Marketing Manager.