Yesterday HMV, the beleaguered British entertainment retailer, laid off 190 employees, in an effort to cut costs and right its balance sheet. The company apparently pulled a large group into human resources and gave them the bad news. While this was going on, one employee, Poppy Rose, who had been an HMV community manager and…
Category: HRM
Turbulent Times Highlight the Need for Succession Planning
How much risk is your company willing to take? If your organization does not have an actionable and cost-effective CEO succession plan in place, then its willingness to gamble is high. Research shows that faulty integration of senior executives can cost a company 10 to 20 times the executive’s salary in lost opportunity costs. Moreover,…
How to Sail Through Your Tough Performance Review
December is performance review month. While the merits and validity of a year-end review are often the subject of great debate, the fact that many firms use them as a tool for compensation and promotion is not. Your managers will spend much time (hopefully) preparing to deliver your review in a thoughtful and constructive manner….
High Performers Get Fed Up
High performers have been disproportionately affected by organizations’ responses to the recession. The 2009–2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork found that employee engagement levels for all workers at the surveyed companies have dropped 9% since last year — but the number was nearly 25% for top performers. The number of people…
CEO Pay Cuts
373 U.S. public companies reduced their chief executives’ base salaries between June 1, 2008 and June 18, 2009. 68 companies in the Fortune 1000 index have reduced executive officers’ base salaries in the past year.Here are the 10 largest (by revenue) U.S. public companies where CEO pay cuts took place: General Motors (reduced to $1)Ford…
Good Salary News Ahead
U.S. workers can look forward to a rebound in merit pay raises in 2010. A median merit increase of 3% is projected — up from 2% in 2009 — according to the Watson Wyatt survey of 235 large U.S. companies. And a survey of nearly 900 companies found that 90% planned pay raises in 2010,…
The Problem with Short-Term Overseas Assignments
Employee-only temporary relocations — when families stay behind — often result in troubled marriages, depression, and child behavior problems, according to a new study by Dwellworks, a relocation firm. Financial pressure adds to the stress. 35% of respondents said their relocations resulted in extra financial obligations for the family, including childcare and help with household…
Everyone A Leader 