Total compensation costs have risen +6% over the past 2 years

According to the Department of Labor, total compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, from June to September 2008, the same as the increase in the previous two quarters. For the year ended September 2008, compensation costs rose 2.9 percent. The 12-month increase for September 2007 was 3.3 percent.

So your total compensation costs have risen +6% over the past 2 years. To reduce your talent overhead, you might have gone through some layoffs. But at some point you reach a threshold where you can let no more people go and still maintain a viable business. Then you begin to re-build with higher quality talent, and there you are with a still increasing cost of total compensation. So what have you done to reduce your cost to re-build and maintain your talent? Have you considered an effort to put drastic controls on your recruiting and retention spend?

Dan Medlin
Director of Recruiting Services
HigherOut
O: 512. 394. 7156 C: 512. 964 .6357
email: dmedlin @ higherout .com