At its annual meeting on September 19, the
Compensation & Benefits Review Advisory
Board discussed a number of timely issues that relate to the current economic boom and the technological forces that are reshaping the way we work. The session opened with a presentation on compensation concerns in corporate restructurings, including mergers, acquisitions, sales, spinoffs, and IPOS. The board also discussed how compensation and benefits specialists' roles have changed dramatically, especially in the past decade. Strategic analysis is assuming an ever greater importance at the expense of traditional compensation and benefits transactional and calculating duties, which are more and more often outsourced.
Board members also raised the issue of what might happen to their incentive plans and 401(k) plans if the stock market should experience severe losses and stay flat. Discussion focussed on how to build provisions into pay and benefit plans to moderate some of the worse effects of a major market stumble.
