Incentive Pay Beats Salary as Top Motivation, Retention Tool

Pay for performance is the No. One way companies retain employees, according to a survey of 100 companies by  Ann Bares, a compensation expert and managing partner at Altura Consulting Group.
Companies also rely on competitive salary and benefits packages and “frequent, open and honest information sharing” to reward and retain employees, Bares wrote on her [...]

Don’t Expect Your 401K to Be the Same

Many employers have eliminated or reduced 401K matching programs to cope with leaner budgets in the recession. And 401Ks won’t necessarily be bouncing back when the economy rebounds, according to an article in Workforce.com.
Executives entering salary and compensation negotiations should understand that at the moment, many matching programs have been eliminated all together and some [...]

Chicago Salaries May Not Meet the Expectations of Chicago Job Seekers

Unemployed Job seekers in Chicago say they’re holding out for more money… or at least less of a pay cut, according to a recent survey by the LaSalle Network, a Chicago-based recruiting and staffing firm.
About 24 percent of unemployed Chicagoans said they wouldn’t accept more than a 5 percent reduction in pay in their next [...]

Hold Out for More Money and Get a Bigger Salary Offer

To grab a larger salary offer in a recession focus on what you perceive to be what the company is looking to hire most.

Yes, the economy stinks, but that doesn’t mean you should discount your own influence in a salary negotiation.
If it’s clear you’re the candidate the company wants, then negotiating for the best possible [...]

How to Earn Your Worth

Lately, you’re lucky to be making the same salary you agreed to when you signed the offer letter.
Many workers in this recession have taken pay cuts in the 5 percent to 15 percent range; are dealing with forced furloughs, frozen salaries and reduced benefits; or are facing unemployment while searching for jobs below their pay [...]

Salary Negotiation Tips: Don’t Lowball Yourself

The laws of supply and demand are in full effect lately: There is a whole lot more demand for jobs than there is supply.
In other words, it’s an employer’s market, and many are going to try and get your salary and benefits to the bottom of the range. The down market may be here for some time. But does [...]

Technology Salaries and IT Jobs in 2009

Information technology workers and executives, listen up.
Management-consulting firm Janco Associates has put out its Mid-Year Annual IT Salary Survey (for purchase), and the results are not surprising. Salaries and bonuses are down, and outsourcing is up. From the Janco release:
Janco Associates is just completing its 2009 Mid Year Salary Survey and found that the median [...]

Citigroup is Reinventing the Wall Street/Finance Salary Model

Citigroup, the nation’s third-largest bank, is exploring new compensation models to try the impossible: retain staff, stay profitable and reward good behavior, sources told Thompson-Reuters.
Citigroup may pay employees on a commission basis, increasing base salaries to limit the exposure to year-end bonuses, stock-based bonuses or some combination of all three, Reuters reported today. “A number [...]