Benefits December 12, 2001

Employees Feel Safe at Work Despite Terror Attacks

December 12, 2001(PLANSPONSOR.com) - Three-quarters of respondents to a survey believe that their work environment is safe, despite the events of September 11 and the Anthrax scares that followed.
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The survey, which was conducted by TrueCareers, an online career resource from Sallie Mae, found that only a quarter of workers felt unsafe at work. The chief reasons given by those who felt unsafe, were:

  • they worked in a government building, cited by 26%, or 
  • they worked for a high-profile company, noted by 12%

The survey also found that 41% of respondents feel more anxious now than they did immediately following the September attacks because of the war in Afghanistan and the anthrax scares, while 42% fell just as anxious as they did on September 11.

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In addition,

  • a third of respondents reported that their employers have made changes to their mail-processing procedures since the anthrax cases,
  • while 20% stated that changes to system security in response to recent threats

The survey comprised the responses of 807 visitors to the TrueCareers Web site.


 

Investing December 11, 2001

Fed Shaves Interest Rates by Quarter Point

December 11, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Federal Open Market Committee sliced another quarter percent off its federal funds rate target, to provide the economy with some much-needed stimulus
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The key interest rate, at which US banks lend their surplus reserves to each other overnight, – already at the 40-year low of 2% – now stands at 1.75%.

Participants in 401(k) programs with loan interest rates benchmarked to bank prime rates will likely benefit from matching cuts in those prime rates over the next couple of days, to 4.75% from 5.0%. 

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The quarter point cut was in line with the unanimous expectations of primary dealers polled by Reuters, who expect the Fed to now shift to smaller cuts.

With this latest cut, the eleventh this year, the Fed hopes to kick-start an economy now officially in recession.

Recent economic releases have been lackluster, with November’s unemployment figure reaching 5.7% from its low of 3.9% a little over a year ago, and gross domestic product negative for two consecutive quarters.

In its statement, the Fed commented that, “the economic activity remains soft,” adding that, “against the background of its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth and of the information currently available, the risks are weighted mainly toward conditions that may generate economic weakness in the foreseeable future.”

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