Dear HR Executive:
With all the reports recently of big bonuses being handed out to top execs at failing firms, your rank-and-file employees may be looking at their next salary discussions with a pretty skeptical eye. They may be wondering whether everybody’s sharing the pain.
Right now, management communication should address how everyone is carrying his or her part of the load. You might want to let employees in on this new data: Nearly one fifth of employers are freezing pay for executive and top managers in the current economic slump, according to a new survey by World at Work. The organization questioned more than 1,000 companies and found that employers are clamping down hard on big bosses’ pay. In April 2008, only 3 percent planned zero increases for 2009. By last December, it was up to 17%.
Shared sacrifice
HR can craft strategies to let employees know how the higher-ups are helping shoulder the sacrifices needed to get through the recession. What are you doing along these lines? Is your management communicating enough about salary discussions and wage issues to the rank and file?
Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center
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