SHIFTING SALES – Delaware, Nationwide, GE Make
Moves
August 21, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A series of
promotions and new hires could be putting a new "spin" on
provider sales pitches to institutional buyers in the future,
as Delaware, Nationwide and GE Asset Management all announced
key sales-related moves today.
Delaware has lured John Ring from Fidelity as its senior
vice president, national sales manager of its retail
retirement plans channel. Ring was previously senior vice
president, national sales manager at Fidelity since
1996.
Before that, he was a vice president, institutional
sales for Fidelity in Philadelphia for five years where he
was responsible for mutual fund product sales to
corporations and bank trust departments.
GE Asset Management has hired Sandy Dzinski as Director
of Public Funds Marketing and Client Service in the Western
Region of the US. She joins GE from Chicago Trust Company
where she provided marketing, sales and client service for
Public, Corporate and Taft-Hartley plans in the Western
US.
Today Nationwide announced the appointment of Donald
Jones as national sales manager for group pension sales.
Jones joined Nationwide in 1998 as a regional marketing
director, and was most recently a group pensions sales
manager for the west region.
GETTING "IT" – Hewitt Survey Indicates New Strategies
to Find, Attract IT Workers
August 13, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - According to a
recent survey, employers are offering more benefits and
greater flexibility, in addition to higher salaries, to hold
information technology workers.
The Hewitt Associates 2000 US HOT Technologies Survey
found that IT employees often average base pay increases of
10% compared with a national average of 4% for other
salaried workers.
Nearly two-thirds of IT workers received some form of
bonus pay this year. Thirteen percent of “hot skill”
employees were granted stock options this year, up from
10%.
However, just 1% of information technology workers were
so rewarded, down from 7% last year. Respondents
attributed the decline to the completion of Y2K
projects.
Flex “Fix”
The survey also found:
Flextime programs – 83% of respondents now offer
versus 57% last year
Telecommuting now offered by 62%, up from about 40% a
year ago
Casual dress policies – now offered by 73%, up from
58% in 1999.
And the new approaches appear to be working. Turnover
among hot skills employees now averages just 12% – down
from about 16% a year earlier, and lower than the 13%
average turnover rate among non-IT employees.
Respondents say it is taking 2-3 months to fill
information technology positions, while more than a quarter
(26%) say that at least 10% of their IT positions are
currently vacant.
Still, most say that contract workers are less than 10%
of their workforce.
“This study shows that while hot skills compensation is
still growing, it is doing so at a slower rate than we’ve
seen in years past,” said Faye Lott, a Hewitt Associates IT
compensation consultant. “However, there continues to be
rapid pay movements for skills with the highest demand,
which is a trend that should continue well into the
future.”
What’s Hot
Network Engineering and Data Visualization top the pay
scale, according to the study. Network engineers are
typically responsible for client/server and
Internet/Intranet network development, while data
visualization professionals apply techniques such as
virtual reality to scientific and engineering projects.
Also high on the list were skills in:
Web Infrastructure
Data Warehousing
Numerical & Non-Numerical Research
Supply Chain Management
Voice Systems Engineering
Web Security
Hot Tomorrow
Respondents say the next wave of “hot skill” demands
will include:
Web Content Development – directs, oversees, reviews
and edits all Web content, establishes links and flow of
information on and between pages
Web Design and Development – designs, prototypes,
develops and implements applications using a number of
Web programming languages
Web Infrastructure – designs, implements and supports
Web servers and applications servers
Web Security – manages the selection, implementation
and maintenance of firewalls, application of security
patches and updates/modifies security design.
The survey was based on results from 216 large
companies, reporting data on more than 38,000 information
technology workers with “skills in short supply, high
demand and experiencing rapid changes in market
value.”