From October 15 to 24, 2008, Towers Perrin surveyed human resources executives and staff at more than 450 companies, asking what they’re likely to do now that the economy’s quite a bit less peppy than it was. Seventy-nine percent of the companies have more than $1 billion in annual revenues.
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How Companies Are Likely to Respond to the Economic Crisis | ||||||||||
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| ||||||||||
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Very |
Somewhat |
Somewhat |
Very |
Too soon | ||||||
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Cut travel and entertainment spending |
41% |
33% |
12% |
6% |
8% | |||||
|
Freeze or reduce hiring |
36% |
26% |
15% |
13% |
10% | |||||
|
Scale back holiday parties and/or other employee events |
32% |
26% |
20% |
13% |
9% | |||||
|
Reduce pay/merit increase budgets |
26% |
23% |
22% |
18% |
11% | |||||
|
Reduce training budgets |
17% |
30% |
24% |
15% |
14% | |||||
|
Targeted reduction in headcount (focus on less critical roles or |
22% |
24% |
17% |
22% |
15% | |||||
|
Reduce annual incentives/bonuses |
18% |
21% |
23% |
25% |
13% | |||||
|
Cut back on perquisites |
12% |
17% |
23% |
32% |
16% | |||||
|
Reduce number receiving long-term incentives |
5% |
13% |
26% |
41% |
15% | |||||
|
Significant reduction in headcount (10% or more) |
8% |
8% |
22% |
44% |
18% | |||||