Now HotJobs.com offers up their survey about job seekers in 2007 – Many workers to consider new jobs in 2007. No surprises in that headline. Their stats: The survey — in which nearly two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) said they would consider new job opportunities in 2007 — suggests the U.S. workforce is full of “passive job seekers” looking to improve their prospects.Optimism about new jobs in 2007 was also common among survey-takers, as approximately 70 percent believe opportunities for job seekers are better or the same as one year ago. These numbers are similar to SHRM’s results. There is a stark contradiction later in the article. Salary ranked as… Read More
Continue ReadingPour Some Sugar On Me
Each morning I peruse the sales employment ads to see who is hiring and what ads they are placing. I came across a local company I have never heard of and was impressed by a bullet point in their ad: Accountable for achieving sales goals within an assigned territory which has key accounts. The emphasis was theirs. This approach may seem trivial, but it is important in putting the right bait out their to find the right salesperson. Companies often have glorified visions of a single salesperson with minimal marketing help being able to take a zero revenue territory and grow it into a highly profitable territory. This can happen… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Will Your Raise Be In 2007?
Less than 4% just like the past few years according to Fortune. That is unless you have specialized skills in office administration, the law, IT, and accounting and finance. In the case of an office administrator, you can expect: Senior executive assistants’ pay range in 2007 is expected to rise 6.5 percent, while senior office managers’ salaries are projected to run 8.2 percent higher than in 2006, reaching $52,000 a year at the high end.The salary guide also suggests ways to boost your market value: Add 9 percent to the salaries listed in the guide if you are bilingual, up to 10 percent if you hold a Microsoft Office Specialist… Read More
Continue ReadingAre Employees Satisfied with Their Compensation & Benefits?
In Segal Sibson’s 2006 survey of employee satisfaction, employees responded that their overall satisfaction with their benefit plans was droppiong. Satisfaction with their pay level dropped from 66% in 2000 and 2003 to 55% in 2006. In terms of benefits, I was surprised to see that healthcare benefits didn’t have the largest drop, it did drop to 54% from 60% in 2003, but the largest drop came in retirement benefits, dropping to 42% all the way from 56% in 2003. An interesting point that Segal Sibson made was that one company in particular had made a huge investment in retiree medical coverage, but very few of the employees (even those… Read More
Continue ReadingBenefits Are A Benefit
Allow me to indulge myself for this is a pet peeve of mine. Inc.com offers up this article – Majority of Small-Business Owners Do Not Offer Retirement Benefits. Only 14 percent of the nation’s small-business owners offer a 401(k) plan to their employees, and 63 percent do not offer any retirement benefits at all, according to a new survey. I’m not surprised by this number. I’ve worked for both small and relatively large companies and there is a distinct difference between the benefits. Obviously the larger companies have the capital to offer more comprehensive plans. Here is the pull quote that struck a nerve (emphasis mine): “Small businesses employ half… Read More
Continue ReadingCEO Trend
I’m a fan of Anthony Meaney’s blog over at Recruiting.com. He has a great riff today on an interesting trend – publicly traded company CEOs leaving to join privately held equity firms. The reason from Anthony: Private equity firms are not publicly traded and are not beholden to shareholders, activists, wall street analysts or reporters. Therefore they don’t have to produce unrealistic linear growth every quarter and can make financial decisions for the long term. I am all for CEOs receiving the best pay package they can. It is a free market which means the market will determine the CEOs value to the company. Plus, not all CEOs are crooks,… Read More
Continue ReadingCEO’s and Shareholder Value
A quick story from the Pioneer Press – Early exit cuts Stroucken pay package. The departing CEO of H.B. Fuller located north of St. Paul is taking a compensation package with him worth $18.5 million. The article simply states: The news release noted Stroucken is receiving $4 million less than he would have had if he had stayed through the March 31, 2007, the end of his contract. There is something you don’t see too often in today’s world – a CEO who could have made much more had he completed his contract that ends in 6 months. Obviously, he is leaving with a lucrative compensation package, but here is… Read More
Continue ReadingFiring the CEO
Last week we posted on the CEO turnover problem both here and here. Today, I caught up to a lengthy CareerJournal.com article regarding How to Fire a CEO: It’s Harder to Sack the Boss. It is an interesting read about the multiple dismissals that have arisen recently. This topic hits home in that the United Healthcare imbroglio occurred in our backyard this year. This is borders on the absurd: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. dismissed CEO Robert J. O’Connell last year, saying that he padded a retirement account by millions of dollars, misused corporate aircraft and conducted an affair with a female executive. But a panel of arbitrators said last… Read More
Continue ReadingFull Employment
Well, the latest unemployment numbers are in and they indicate that, as a nation, we are basically at full employment. The new unemployement number is 4.4% – a drop of .2% from last month and a 5-year low. Sourcing is going to be even more of an issue for companies. We are seeing this in our business as we have extended our sourcing times while doubling our efforts. If you aren’t using multiple channels for sourcing, you are going to find long lead times on strong candidates. The second part of the equation is compensation: Workers’ average hourly earnings climbed to $16.91 in October, a sizable 0.4 percent increase from… Read More
Continue ReadingBenefits Worth Demanding
The Employee Benefits You Should Demand. Wellness Autopilot retirement savings Retirement income security Education and workplace guidance And how do you get them? Well, for starters, don’t try to convince your HR department. That would be preaching to the choir, says Adams. Instead he recommends sending letters to the so-called C-suite – the senior level executives. “You have to appeal to the people who can make those decisions,” he said.
Continue Reading