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9/11/05

TECH EMPLOYMENT

Compensation, job choices show strength

Workers in technology-related fields are getting paid more and have a wider variety of career choices than ever before.

According to last month's Dice Report, published by Dice Inc., a technology and engineering human resources consulting firm, the technology job market has showed strong gains over the summer, both in average salary gains and available job openings.

Technology professionals such as network engineers and software developers are enjoying significant salary increases over last year, the report said.

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"As of June 30, the average salary for technology professionals was 2.4 percent higher than in 2004, rising from $66,300 to $67,900," the report said. "The increase was primarily driven by the strong rise in salaries for contract professionals, up 6.2 percent from $82,000 to $87,100."

Salaries for professionals in other sectors stayed flat at a nationwide average of $64,600, the company reported.
Job availability in the tech sector also increased overall over the summer. Over 73,000 technology jobs openings were registered with the company, and the Boston metro area ranked seventh in the nation behind other tech-heavy regions, including number one New York, number three Silicon Valley in California, and number five Philadelphia, which was cited as having one of the strongest job growth rates in the country.

EXECUTIVE SUITE
CEOs earning pre-9/11 salaries, bonuses

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Those at the top of the corporate ladder are also earning significantly more this year than last year, but their earnings are not rising as quickly as their companies' revenues.

The August 2005 Chief Executive Total Cash Compensation index, released last week by the Economic Research Institute and CareerJournal.com, showed a return to pre-9/11 levels of cash salaries and bonuses for many of America's top executives.

"The increase in cash compensation among America's highest-paid executives points to a brightening economy," said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerJournal.com in a statement released with the report. "Just three years ago, the highest-paid executives' salaries fell by 22.6 percent, so this represents a healthy turnaround."

ERI and CareerJournal.com, the executive job website operated by The Wall Street Journal, compiled the report by surveying a randomly selected group of 45 publicly traded companies that report executive compensation packages to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Average base cash salaries for executives at American companies increased 0.55 percent to $1,246,050 this year over 2004, and cash bonuses, which have traditionally made up a significant portion of executive pay packages, increased 11.42 percent to $2,400,971 in 2005. Combined, the improved compensation packages marked a 7.45 percent increase for this year.

The return of executive compensation to pre-9/11 levels shows a general upturn for the overall health of the American economy as well, the report says.

And while this year's numbers show a 70.8 percent increase over a similar 1997 survey conducted by the same organizations, average revenues are up 92.3 percent for the companies surveyed.

The surging rate of corporate revenues over executive earnings show a break in trends that usually linked compensation, particularly cash bonuses, to company performance.

Turnover turnaround as departure rate slows

Those recent increases in executive compensation may have also been responsible for a positive sort of downturn in the corporate world.

The pace of turnover among chief executive officers of American companies slowed to 96 departures in July, down 20 percent from a June high of 120, according to a report released last month by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., an outplacement consulting firm.

"No one industry dominated in terms of CEO turnover in July," the report said. The computer industry showed the greatest executive turnover, with 15 top-level departures in July.

The downturn in executive exits marks a significant change in a trend that for five months prior, had more than 100 chief executives per month leaving their posts.

This year has marked a record period for executive shuffles throughout corporate America. Through July 2005, 777 chief executive changes have been tracked by the firm, which monitors companies in all industries with traditional corporate structures. That represents an 89.5 percent increase over the same time last year, when only 410 executive changes had been revealed.

The reason for the overall trend of short stays at the top of the corporate heap?

"One reason for this may be that people do not stay with one company as long as they did in the past," said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray, in the report. "The recent surge in merger and acquisition activity is another factor leading to increased turnover. Corporate marriages can often result in power struggles for the top spot, with the acquiring company CEO usually winning the battle, at least in the short term."

The report also noted that among top-level executives, it has become more common practice to switch jobs more often. Ten of the chief executives who have left their positions so far this year did so to take advantage of a better post at another company, according to the report.

Others who chose to give up the corner office remain with their companies, but in a less powerful — and less stressful — position, according to the report.

SURVEY
Companies increasing voluntary benefits

As the fully paid pension plan slowly becomes but a memory for American workers, large companies are beginning to use voluntary benefits as incentives to sweeten deals for new and existing employees, according to a study by MetLife Inc., one of the country's largest insurance firms.

According to study results released late last month, voluntary benefits such as long-term care insurance are growing in popularity among companies and workers faster than ever.

MetLife surveyed client information and benefit offerings at 88 of the largest Fortune 500 companies.

Long-term care insurance offerings have increased 61 percent over the past four years, according to the study, meaning one-third of American companies now offer the benefit as part of a package to their workers.

POETRY AS THERAPY
Averse to work? Try a verse

If you're constantly plagued with a "case of the Mondays" and dread interaction with your co-workers, you may not be alone, and one senior human resources executive at pharmaceuticals manufacturer AstraZeneca believes that a simple dose of emotionally cleansing poetry can heal the soul wounds any worker accumulates in a typical day at the office.

Orlando Ceaser, the company's senior director of diversity, has written three books of business and office related poetry, aimed at taking a more artistic stance on office issues of career development, leadership and diversity.

One of his poems, "Eagles in Cages" takes a soft look at how some introverted workers feel in a bustling office environment. His other poems attack many other common workplace issues, and have titles such as "I Am the Customer," "I Crave the Competitive Advantage" and "The Manager Within a Merger."

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