N@N

Salary.com: 78% of Human Resources Departments Feeling an Economic Impact, Salary.com(TM) Survey Says

_{//science-technology.news-articles.net/content/2 .. n-economic-impact-salary-com-tm-survey-says.html}
^{Published in Science and Technology on Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 18:46 GMT, Last Modified on 2009-07-01 18:46:17 by Market Wire}  

NEEDHAM, MA--(Marketwire - July 1, 2009) - [ Salary.com ], Inc. (NASDAQ: [ SLRY ]), a leading provider of on-demand compensation, payroll and talent management solutions, has announced the results of a recent economic impact survey of over 400 clients. Over 78% of respondents indicated that their human resources policies have been impacted by the current economic climate, with 53% implementing wage freezes and 52% undergoing layoffs during the past year. Early indications suggest that approved [ merit ] increases for 2009 will be approximately 1.5% to 2.0%, down from 2009 projections of 3.6% to 3.9%.

"Economic uncertainty may persuade organizations to hold off on any performance rewards, but this can be de-motivating," said Brent Kleiman, SVP, Marketing & Strategy at Salary.com. "Top employees will always be in demand, so it is prudent to allocate some budget toward rewarding high performance. It may be a tough sell to management, but the cost of losing superstars far exceeds that of an incremental increase during [ performance reviews ]. Organizations don't want to get behind competition for their top performing talent once the economy turns around." As a sign that companies are recognizing this, more than 50% of survey respondents indicated that top performers will still be eligible for bonuses, regardless of implemented pay freezes.

"In today's economic environment, [ compensation ] maintains a fundamental competitive advantage when attracting and retaining top talent," said Kleiman, "even if companies can expect to see salaries grow more slowly than in the past. Cost-effective means for [ market pricing ] and managing complex, equitable [ salary structures ] are essential to the development of superior [ talent management ] strategies and to maintaining the highest quality workforce."

For more detailed information on the Economic Impact survey, [ click here ] to download the Insight.

About Salary.com, Inc.

Salary.com is a leading provider of on-demand compensation and talent management solutions helping businesses and individuals manage pay and performance. Salary.com's highly configurable software applications, proprietary data and consulting services help HR and compensation professionals automate, streamline and optimize critical talent management processes including: market pricing, compensation planning, performance management, competency management and succession planning. Built with compensation and competency data at the core, Salary.com solutions provide businesses of all sizes with the most productive and cost-effective way to manage and inspire their most important asset -- their people. For more information, visit [ www.salary.com ].

SLRY-F