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August 16, 2005
Out and About with Astron
The last few
months have been busy here at Astron Solutions,
filled with TV appearances, community outreach, and
even a celebrity sighting!
Jennifer Loftus,
SPHR, CCP, CBP, GRP, National Director, was the
featured human resource expert on BusinessWeek
TV: Money Talk, a nationally syndicated program
on ABC. The story topic was Babble©,
a device created to encourage telephone privacy
within tight workspaces. Jennifer talked about the
pros and cons of installing such a device and the
possible negative effects that it could have on
employee morale.
View the episode on the BusinessWeek TV website.
The clip is called Employee Privacy. It's story #31
under "Watch More BusinessWeek Weekend," found on
the left side of your screen.
Astron Solutions has volunteered to participate in
Operation Backpack's Sort Day. Operation Backpack
started in 1996 as an effort to gather school supplies
for the 11,000 children currently living in New York
City homeless shelters. These children typically dread
returning to school since they are often stigmatized by
their classmates due to their living situation. Not
having basic school supplies adds to their stress and
embarrassment. We will be doing our part by helping to
organize and prepare the backpacks for distribution to
the students in grades Pre-K – 12.
Although we are located in the heart of New York City,
some celebrity sightings take place 30,000 feet above
the ground. Recently, Jennifer Loftus had the pleasure
of meeting Former President
Jimmy Carter on a flight home from Atlanta, GA. The
personable former president was on a connecting flight
to Birmingham, UK. He took the time to shake hands with
everyone on the plane. Given the numerous Delta flights
out of Atlanta, we here at Astron are a bit surprised
that he didn’t take a direct flight!
2005 Economic Update: Industry Specific 2005
Total Compensation Budget Predictions
What’s in
store for 2006? Research organizations have
made their predictions, but unstable oil prices
can cause even the most positive projections to
take a drastic turn.
According to
Michael Maciekowich, National Director of Astron
Solutions, organizations need to review 2006
salary budget projections with a cautious eye.
"While inflation and unemployment levels have
remained steady throughout 2005, this may change
as we get closer to 2006. The price of a barrel
of oil, now priced in the upper $60s, may
ultimately have an impact on the nation's
unemployment rate. When consumers divert
spendable cash away from non-durable goods, such
as electronics, to the fuel pump, companies may
end up with a surplus of goods, causing them to
reduce production. These events can lead to
layoffs and a higher unemployment rate. Higher
unemployment often leads to reductions in salary
raises, due to the increased supply of workers."
However,
economists in the federal government are
optimistic.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
believes that the economy is growing at a
healthy pace. When considering the impact of
inflation, the CBO believes that real gross
domestic product (GDP), which is the total value
of all goods and services produced by a country
in a year, will grow by 3.7 percent in 2006,
before slowing to a pace of 2.9 percent.
What then,
according to recent economic projections, can we
expect in the coming year in regard to
compensation budget planning? The CBO forecasts
a percentage change of 1.9% (down from 2.4% in
2005) in the Consumer Price Index and a 5.2%
unemployment rate (no change from 2005).
According to
the 2005-06 WorldatWork Salary Budget Survey, we
should expect to see a slight drop in the use of
variable pay programs in 2006. In 2005, the
average budgeted incentive for exempt employees
was 12.7%. The projections for the average
budgeted incentive in 2006 reveal a possible
decrease to 12.2%.
The
following table is a summary of 2006 average
preliminary base pay budget levels for twelve
key industry groupings. These increase amounts
include all base pay adjustments including
merit, promotions, and market equity.
Information for this table was compiled from
recently published studies by
Mercer Human Resource Consulting,
The Conference Board, and
WorldatWork.
Industry |
2006 Base Pay Adjustments |
Legal
and Accounting Services |
4.0% |
Business and Information Services |
3.9% |
Computer Software Services |
3.8% |
Finance and Banking |
3.7% |
Hospitality |
3.7% |
Insurance |
3.7% |
Healthcare |
3.6% |
Manufacturing |
3.6% |
Retail |
3.6% |
Transportation |
3.6% |
Education |
3.3% |
Real
Estate |
3.3% |
The
following is a summary of projected formal
salary range or structure adjustments by
industry group at the exempt salaried level:
(Source: 2005-06 WorldatWork Salary Budget
Survey)
Industry |
2006 Salary Structure Budget Adjustments |
Transportation |
3.6% |
Real
Estate |
3.1% |
Hospitality |
2.7% |
Manufacturing |
2.7% |
Healthcare |
2.5% |
Retail |
2.5% |
Finance and Banking |
2.4% |
Insurance |
2.4% |
Construction |
2.3% |
Business and Information Services |
2.2% |
Education |
2.2% |
Curious as
to how the United States compares to the rest of
the world? The following statistics were taken
from the
Executive Resources Limited (ERL) 2005-06
Salary Increase Projections. If you start to
get concerned about your own budget adjustments,
just be grateful that you aren’t instituting
employee salary increases in Zimbabwe!
Country |
2006 Inflation Projected |
2006 Increases Planned |
Australia |
2.5% |
4.0% |
Belgium |
1.6% |
3.0% |
Brazil |
7.4% |
6.9% |
Canada |
2.3% |
3.0% |
China |
3.6% |
5.1% |
Egypt |
9.6% |
9.8% |
Finland |
0.5% |
2.0% |
France |
1.8% |
3.8% |
Greece |
2.8% |
4.5% |
Irish
Republic |
2.6% |
3.4% |
Italy |
2.0% |
3.8% |
Japan |
0.1% |
2.0% |
Mexico |
4.4% |
6.0% |
Nigeria |
16.1% |
16.2% |
Norway |
1.2% |
3.5% |
Puerto
Rico |
2.7% |
4.0% |
Russia |
8.2% |
10.0% |
Spain |
2.8% |
5.1% |
Sweden |
0.8% |
3.0% |
United
Kingdom |
1.8% |
3.2% |
United
States |
2.6% |
4.2% |
Zimbabwe |
120.0% |
120.0% |
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Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting? Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues. For more information, send an e-mail to
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Copyright 2007, Astron Solutions, LLC
ISSN Number 1549-0467
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