Survey: One-quarter of employers are freezing salaries for 2009

摘要

When it comes to salary freezes, what a difference six months of recession makes.rnEarly last fall, just 2% of 557 employers surveyed worldwide by compensation consultants Culpepper & Associates planned to freeze all salaries this year. Now, the figure has ballooned to 25%. For the U.S. alone, it's 29%.rnThe average salary increase planned for 2009 also dropped drastically over the same period - from 4.2% to 2.6%.rnThe U.S. figure was lower - 2.2%.rnAcross-the-board freezes may seem like a straightforward way to restrain wage costs. But if your C-suite is weighing this solution, you may want to raise the question: Do we risk demotivating our most valued people, the ones we'll need to rely on coming out of the recession?