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Current News
Salary Survey Reveals Companies Are Cutting Benefits to Control Costs
Janco has just released it 2009 IT Salary Survey and it finding
show that IT compensation has been adversely impacted by the down turn in the
economy, outsourcing, lay-offs, and hiring freezes. In addition companies are now cutting
benefits to help control costs.
 
Fringe Benefit Analysis
|
Fringe
Benefits - Historical Trends |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
|
Insurance - Health |
87% |
90% |
95% |
81% |
|
Insurance - Life |
75% |
75% |
85% |
64% |
|
401K |
69% |
71% |
70% |
64% |
|
Trips (i.e. off-site planning, trade shows, training)
|
42% |
63% |
55% |
44% |
|
Insurance - Disability (beyond mandated requirements)
|
63% |
58% |
67% |
49% |
|
Flexible Hours and or Schedule
|
61% |
57% |
60% |
49% |
|
Personal Performance Bonus |
53% |
53% |
59% |
66% |
|
Enterprise Performance Bonus |
42% |
38% |
46% |
42% |
|
Stock Options |
45% |
21% |
22% |
27% |
|
Automobile |
9% |
11% |
10% |
21% |
Since
2006, for the most part, there has been a continued reduction in the fringe
benefits paid by companies of all sizes.
In the case of 401K's many companies have stopped providing a
contribution to those plans for their employees. In 2008 and 2009 the companies falling
into that category include:
-
Cushman
& Wakefield
-
GenCorp
-
Eastman
Kodak
-
FedEx
-
Ford
Motor Company
-
Frontier Airlines
-
General
Motors
-
Intermountain Healthcare
-
Motorola
-
Resorts
International
-
Vail
Resorts
That
along with all of the firms that have declared bankruptcy or gone out of
business is placing pressure on the remaining firms to control employee expense
more. As a result there now is
pressure to reduce other expenses such as family paid health insurance versus
employee health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance beyond what is
mandated by law and "unnecessary" travel and trip
expenses.
With
outsourcing and lay-offs impacting may companies, IT professionals are now more
focused on "being in the office" during normal work hours so their
employers can see that they are providing value. Flexible hours are not viewed as being
as important a benefit as maintaining a job.
more info
Outsourcing to Drive More IT Job Offshore In This Downturn
Plenty of
companies have reasonable qualms about their offshore outsourcing initiatives,
but make no mistake: offshoring is alive and well.
 In two years, 25 percent of all IT jobs will be located outside
the U.S. That's one of the more compelling findings in the new study.
A total of
more than 350,000 jobs in finance, HR, information technology and procurement
will be farmed out overseas over the next two years, according to the study.
About half will come in IT.
And
businesses are seeing substantial benefits. The study says that by 2010, a
typical Global 1000 firm will see annual general/administrative cost savings of
more than $28 million, thanks to globalization.
But
the economy still stinks, and those job cuts everyone feared are in the works.
The study says almost one-third of companies polled say they have enacted a
combination of hiring freezes and cutbacks in IT, the most-hard hit area
overall.
more info
Lost Data Causes Productivity Loss
 Information is one of a companyÂ’s strategic resources. The
company owns valuable proprietary processes, sensitive customer information,
private vendor lists, and strategic goals that have great value – and may be
attractive targets for competitors or thieves. In some cases companies have a
legal obligation to protect that data. Data also has to be protected from
accidental (or intentional) corruption, and IT professionals must ensure that
company data is accessible or deliverable when necessary.
As a result, companies spend a
significant portion of their IT budget on managing and protecting information.
Sometimes business interests collide. More security sometimes means less
productivity, more cost and less return on business investment. A companyÂ’s data
can be lost or stolen if network users donÂ’t follow basic security procedures.
Lost data can meanÂ…
more info
IT Spending Will Increase With the Coming Recovery
 Factors that are driving our forecast that things will be better
are:
- Falling Energy
Costs - With the drop in energy a major downward pull on the
economy has been eliminated. Everything will continue to be priced
reasonably, and imports will increase again. That will boost the economy
in China and help drive the world wide
recovery.
- Falling Interest
Rates - Will push the improvement in the performance of banks and
investment firms, which will result in some modest growth. The lower interest
rates will enable companies in many sectors of the economy to invest in some
growth as well.
- The Dollar's Value is
increasing - The dollar has gained value during the economic
crisis because it's seen as a safe haven and there should be an increase in
the DOW and NASDQ.
- Government's economic
stimulus plan - It looks like the package will include $700
billion to $800 billion in new investments, many of which will involve
technology. Targeted vertical markets will include education, health care and
energy, the latter with an array of new initiatives that will rely on
IT.
more info
2009 Version of Job Descriptions HandiGuide Released
 The 2009 Version of the Internet and Informantion Technology
Position Descriptions HandiGuide® has been released. The HandiGuide® now
has 220 full Job Descriptions and has been updated to use a standard CSS style
sheet for the HandiGuide and the Word versions of the job
descriptions.
All of the job descriptions have been upated to be
fully compliant and take into account the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA,
PCI-DSS, and the ISO standards. In additon to the full job descriptions
for Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Chief
Security Officer (CSO,) Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) the new job descriptions include:
- Director Safety Program
- Manager Record Administrator
- Manager Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
- Manager Waste Management
- Project Manager Enterprise Architecture
- Enterprise Architect
- PCI-DSS Coordinator
- Record Management Coordinator
- Systems Integrator
- Waste Management Coordinator
Added to the HandiGuide a sectionon motivating
employees and a Candidate Interview Control log. A full table of
contents can be downloaded from the IT Productivity
Center.
more info
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