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12/19/04
EMPLOYMENT Here's a good reason for workers to toast the New Year: Manpower Inc., the international placement firm, is predicting stronger hiring in 2005. Of the 16,000 US employers surveyed, 24 percent say they will likely increase staff levels during the first quarter of 2005, while 10 percent will likely decrease them. In all, 59 percent said they will not change worker numbers. Seven percent were unsure of their hiring plans. Manpower noted that when seasonal variations are removed from the data, the outlook for the first three months of 2005 reveals that employer confidence is expected to inch upward from last quarter and improve greatly from a year ago. Researchers reported even more positive results for Boston area workers. The company said that 30 percent of the companies in Greater Boston are thinking about bringing on new employees. In all, 5 percent say they will reduce payrolls, 62 percent will maintain current staffing levels and 3 percent said they are unsure of their hiring plans. ''In the Boston area, employers expect more hiring activity than in the fourth quarter when 20 percent of the companies interviewed intended to increase headcount and 8 percent planned to decrease it,'' said Mark Spengler, a Manpower spokesman. ''Employers are also more optimistic about hiring than they were a year ago when 23 percent of companies surveyed thought employment increases were likely and 13 percent intended to cut back.'' The best job prospects? Try construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate, education, and public administration. --DIANE E. LEWIS
WAGES Job opportunities may rise in 2005, but don't expect a huge paycheck to go with them. Mercer Human Resource Consulting reports that employers will be making moderate adjustments to wages. That means no big cutbacks, and no big increases either. In all, 41 percent of 500 US employers polled plan to make only small adjustments to their 2005 pay increase budgets, according to Mercer. The company said the firms are projecting decreases of just one or two-tenths of a percentage point for some employees, and increases of about 3.5 percent. The employees most likely to see less in their paychecks next year are executives. Overall, their increases are expected to drop to 3.6 percent, down from the 3.7 percent hike benefit specialists had predicted earlier in the year. Steven E. Gross, leader of Mercer's compensation consulting practice in the United States, said several factors ranging from uncertainty about corporate profits and the economy has caused companies to be more cautious about compensation and hiring decisions. At the same time, he said, many want to be ready to recruit if the economy is stronger than they anticipated. But some workers will see bigger gains. According to Mercer, high performing employees can expect to receive average base pay increases of 4.9 percent in 2005 compared to just 3.5 percent for average performers and 1 percent for weak performers. ''In the current environment, employers need to be concerned about their high performing employees and those with critical skills,'' said Gross. ''Those are the employees they need most to help the organization pull out of a difficult economic period. Unless you reward these employees at sufficiently higher levels, you risk losing them when the economy gets better.'' --DIANE E. LEWIS
WORKPLACE Stress affects some US workers so much during the holiday season they seriously consider quitting their jobs. When Accenture HR Services talked to 600 full-time employees to gauge stress levels around the holidays and how companies are helping workers cope, they received some surprising feedback: Of those polled, 37 percent said they've thought about resigning because of increased workplace stress. In all, 66 percent say they have experienced workplace stress around the holidays. About 25 percent said they are even more productive during the holiday season than the rest of the year and 51 percent said their rate of productivity has not been impacted. But when asked whether they've taken a vacation day during the work week, just 25 percent had taken time off. In addition, one-third said they will be working through the holiday season. Specialists suggest some workers might feel more anxiety because of year-end inventory and greater pressure to close out the year's accounts. Others, aware of the fact that some employers are more likely to lay off at the end of the year, might be worrying about job security. ''There may be some job pressures that they need to deal with and many take on holiday responsibilities,'' said Brenda Dwyer, manager in Accenture's human resources advisory services in Denver. ''So, this is a time when employers should be more sensitive to employees' needs, to help them deal with the added stress. If they have employee assistance programs or life-work programs, they could say, 'Here are some tips and programs that can help you deal with the stress.''' Despite their concerns, 37 percent of the workers said they have not talked to managers about their workloads. When asked why not, they said they felt uncomfortable about broaching the subject. Fifty-five percent also said their employers do not have formal antistress programs. Dwyer said stress management should be available online so employees can easily access those tools without having to talk to human resources. While men are more likely to grin and bear it, women are more likely to take a day off, said Accenture. In all, 72 percent of the women polled complained of stress compared to 61 percent of the men. --DIANE E. LEWIS
EXECUTIVE SUITE Despite the accounting scandals and ongoing reports of corporate malfeasance, US employees' attitudes toward senior management appear to be rebounding, reports Watson Wyatt, the benefits firm. In its WorkUSA Survey of 13,000 employees, the company found that 51 percent of those polled said they trust and have confidence in senior management, up from 44 percent in 2002. The changes come two years after the economic downturn and several accounting scandals caused some workers to lose confidence in corporate America. However, Watson Wyatt cautions that workers are still concerned about lack of communication between them and top management, and a lack of employee development. --DIANE E. LEWIS
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