*Diners
credit card payment and instalment welcomed
Bouquets
Two memorable
experiences stood out for me – one with my CEO and the other was with my
Chief HR Officer. The experience with my CEO occurred during his closing
address at one of my company’s leadership development programs. His simple
question was “What’s next?” This simple question if reflected and acted upon
earnestly, will prevent us from being complacent and drive us to
conscientiously think ahead always.
The second experience was a conversation with our CHRO during this year’s HR
leadership meeting. When asked what words of wisdom she could offer to guide
us into 2011, she said “Always stay close and relevant to the business”,
which we all knew was meant to inspire us to continue to add value and be
strategic partners to the business.
If I may add, I would say, “Stay close to doing what you love, stay relevant
and ahead by developing future capabilities needed to be successful in the
near future”.
Mr Christopher Goh Associate Lecturer, SHRI Academy
44th Joint Graduation Ceremony
SHRI RESEARCH CENTRE >>
Research Reports
SHRI-RDS
Fax Survey on 2008/09 Pay & HR Actions
SHRI, in
conjunction with RDS, surveyed 218 companies in August 2008
to find out their wage increase, bonus and recruitment
plans as well as their employee-relief and cost-management
measures in the face of rising inflation and business
uncertainties.
Summary
of Key Findings
Many
companies have, since late 2007, started to brace
themselves for the spill-over effects from the US credit
crunch. To date, surprisingly, they do not appear to
have felt the full effect of the crisis. Business
optimism has dipped somewhat but it is still relatively
high as wage increases. Bonuses and recruitment
expectations are slightly down from six months ago.
Slightly
less companies (91% of the companies compared to 97% six
months ago) are satisfied with current business
prospects; 88% (compared to 98%) are optimistic over
the next six months.
Wage
increases this year will average around 5.3%,
higher than 2007’s 5%. For next year, the wage increase
is expected to decline somewhat to 5%, which is still
surprisingly high considering the projected business
slowdown.
Variable
bonuses (excluding AWS) this year will average 2.1 to
2.5 months, similar to last year’s.
On
recruitment, more companies plan to hire this year
(85% compared to 81% last year). Although the number
to be hired per company will be lower than last year’s,
it is higher than that forecasted six months ago.
Slightly
less companies (84%)
experienced staff turnover this year compared to last
year (87%). The turnover per company is also
slightly lower than last year’s.
11% of
the companies retrenched or plan to retrench this year.
Although this is only slightly higher than the 9% last
year, this is significantly higher than the 2%
forecasted six months ago.
Entry-level salaries for some qualifications remained
unchanged while others increased by 2% to 5.7% from six
months ago.
45% of the companies have paid or are planning to pay
the once-off 'Inflation' Bonus to their employees; one third
of whom paid or will pay $100 to $300 and another one
third either in higher bonuses or higher wage increases.
In order
to
better manage costs in the face of rising inflation,
companies are reviewing their ERP and petrol
reimbursement rates as well as air travel entitlements.
19% of
the companies are using outsourcing services,
mainly for payroll processing (71%) and benefits
administration (21%).
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