J&J freezes salaries, cuts bonus targets

The compensation makeover has made its way to Johnson & Johnson. The company is freezing some employee salaries and lowering the maximum performance bonuses for 38 percent of its workforce, the Wall Street Journal reports.

But the pay cuts aren't about saving money, a spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal. It's about standardizing compensation so that employees have an easier time moving around within the multinational, diversified company; plus, it will bring U.S. bonuses more in line with the market. "This program is about creating a global compensation program that is consistent and equitable for our employees across the company," the spokeswoman said.

Some bonus targets will actually increase--for 27 percent of J&J's 115,000 employees--and others will stay the same. Stock bonuses will take the biggest hit, a company announcement stated.

As you know, J&J isn't the only Big Pharma that's holding the line on pay. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently froze salaries for this year [1], for all employees except those whose pay increases are required by contract.

- read the WSJ story [2]
- see the piece [3] at The Street 

Related Articles:
J&J sales up; profits down on charges [4]
Johnson & Johnson - Top 10 Layoffs of 2009 [5]
Where will J&J's layoffs hit hardest? [6]
J&J restructuring claims up to 8,000 jobs [7]