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9/12/04
COMPENSATION Annual pay is up for recent MBA graduates around the world, with average salaries increasing 27 percent over the last eight years, according to TopMBA.com, an online recruiting site. In 2004, salaries for MBA hires averaged more than $82,000, according to TopMBA, a 9 percent increase over last year. In 2003, for example, business school graduates earned, on average, $75,846, up from $74,367 the year before. The website noted that pay may vary significantly, depending on the employer, the country where the new recruit will be working, and the business school he or she attended. For example, MBA graduates of some elite business schools in the United States and Europe may earn $100,000 or more. Overall, however, financial compensation is expected to remain high for all top graduates. ''Business school placement directors and MBA recruiters are predicting further salary growth in 2005 as the service sector continues to rebound,'' reported TopMBA. ''This increase reflects a high level of optimism amongst recruiters and increased competition for top talent. The only cloud on the horizon is the potential impact of further shocks to the global economic system from rising oil prices, and/or global terrorism.'' Researchers at the site have been monitoring demand for MBAs around the world since 1990, providing information on recruiting trends and salary developments in Latin America, Asia, North America, and western and central Europe. According to TopMBA, the data are gleaned from top recruiters around the world as well as major multinational companies. The website attributed the boost in salaries worldwide to the economic boom of the 1990s, noting that economic downturns in certain regions in subsequent years have not dampened MBA salaries. ''A decade of uninterrupted economic growth during the 1990s resulted in rising salary and bonus packages for MBA graduates,'' said Nunzio Quacquarelli and Monisha Saldanha, authors of the salary report released last week by TopMBA. The report said that when the recession began in the United States in 2001, companies decreased salaries for most workers, but salaries for top business school graduates continued to climb. That trend reversed in 2002, when salaries for those professionals dropped to preboom levels. But even during this salary correction, some cities in Europe were resilient and continued to offer competitive wages, according to the report. Overall, companies in the United States and in Western Europe offer similar salaries to MBA graduates, but the annual wages offered by employers in Latin America and Eastern Europe are not as high, the report said. It noted that multinational companies with headquarters in the United States or Western Europe and the major recruiting firms that serve them were more likely to offer lucrative salaries to desirable candidates because they want to remain competitive in a global market. According to TopMBA, the average MBA salary in parts of Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia is now more than $75,000 annually. In Latin America, by contrast, the average salary is $48,500 per year, about 40 percent lower than the annual salary of an MBA graduate in the United States or Western Europe. Despite the lower pay, Latin American MBA graduates still earn a competitive wage because their cost of living is 50 to 60 percent lower than the living expenses paid by graduates in cities like New York and London. --DIANE E. LEWIS
AWARDS Should employers do more to recognize their mature workers? Operation A.B.L.E. thinks so. The private nonprofit training organization serves adults, including unemployed workers who are 45 and older. On Sept. 20, the organization will hold a luncheon at the Radisson Hotel in Boston from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to honor the contributions of workers 50 and over. During the event, workers nominated by their employers will receive an achievement award and be recognized in the printed program. The group is seeking employers to sponsor the event and nominate employees. Employers who contribute $500 will receive complimentary seating for eight guests. While some employers are still pushing mature workers out the door, specialists believe that could change soon. They maintain that within the next few years, US companies will face a decline in younger workers. That, coupled with the retirements of the nation's oldest baby boomers, could mean steep worker shortages for companies that are not prepared. It could also result in a shift in attitude toward older workers, said Joan Cirillo the executive director of Operation A.B.L.E. ''We have 76 million baby boomers who will be eligible to leave the workplace, but fewer younger workers will be coming up the ranks,'' said Cirillo. ''So, this will be a compelling issue for employers. There is an argument for looking at the mature worker as an important labor resource for all employers.'' --DIANE E. LEWIS
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT The work of a middle manager is getting harder and harder but few receive the training or support they need to do their jobs properly, reports ClearRock, an executive coaching and outplacement firm in Boston. ''The result is that most middle managers are underperforming in their jobs, and they are having big problems developing and communicating with direct reports and managing change,'' the company said in a study released last week. The survey of 73 US companies found that 75 percent feel the performance of their middle managers is only somewhat effective. Eight percent said that their middle managers were only somewhat ineffective. Just 17 percent said they were very effective. The most important skills required for middle management are the ability to develop, manage, and communicate with those who report directly to them, according to the survey. However, 81 percent of the respondents said middle managers do not know how to develop subordinates, and 71 percent said they do not manage workers well. ClearRock also reported that many companies - 47 percent - have hired more middle managers over the past two years, while letting go higher-level managers and some executives. Forty percent of the companies said the number of people supervised by middle managers has increased over the last two years. Despite increasing responsibilities, however, middle managers are not receiving much guidance, the report said. ''Middle managers are generally not receiving adequate management training and coaching to handle the larger numbers of employees that they are managing today due to cutbacks in management layers,'' said Anne Hawley Stevens, managing partner at ClearRock. ''They are being prepared even less for future promotions.'' --DIANE E. LEWIS
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