SMALL BUSINESS BRIEFS
Employees prefer pay over stock
As financially pinched U.S. companies slash employees, raises, travel budgets and nearly every perk known to the workplace, employees say they'd rather give up special stock offers and career-development opportunities than see their salaries or benefits cut.
Only 2 percent of employees classified as "top-performing" said companies ought to reduce benefits or salaries and bonuses, according to the annual survey of 3,000 workers by Watson Wyatt & Co., a Washington, D.C.-based employment consulting firm.
Nearly half said stock-based compensation systems should be first to be whacked.
'Plan your work, work your plan'
How many nights do you head home from work wondering, "How did I not accomplish anything all today?"
It may be because many of us fail to follow the time-management maxim, "Plan your work, work your plan," according to a study of 1,350 managers' habits and operational systems in seven countries, including the United States.
"Managers just do not spend enough time thinking ahead, and adhering to their plans," said Alan Steelman, executive vice president of Florida-based Proudfoot Consulting, which conducted the study. "Instead, most managers spend far too much time putting out fires that proper planning could have prevented."
The report said American companies lose 86 work days a year being unproductive. When asked why, 31 percent of employees cited poor planning; nearly 22 percent blamed inadequate management.
Ethics an issue for consumers
The accounting irregularities reported at Enron, Tyco International, WorldCom and other companies are making many consumers think about ethics as they decide which products to buy and which services to use.
A poll of 1,040 adults by Cone, a Boston consulting firm, found that 91 percent might switch to another company's products or services if a firm is implicated in wrongdoing.
Japan to invest in 1,000 start-ups
The Development Bank of Japan will invest as much as 7.5 billion yen ($63 million) to help finance university start-ups, part of a government plan to create 1,000 new companies within three years.
The state-owned lender is prepared to supply half the money for five new start-up funds, said Kenjiro Kobayashi, the bank's director-general of new business, in an interview.
