January 3, 2008

Fortune

Don't Expect a Bigger Raise This Year

According to our crystal ball, your salary increase will be just so-so this year. You’re also more likely to catch a cold in the office. Here’s what to expect at work in 2008.

A poll was conducted last month by ComPsych (www.compsych.com), a major provider of employee assistance programs and other outsourced human-resources services. The firm surveyed 1,000 employees of its client companies nationwide and found that 83 percent plan to come to work even if they are sick, up from 77 percent the last time ComPsych asked this question two years ago.

More than one in three (37 percent, up from 34 percent in the earlier poll) said their workload is just too heavy to allow for time off, and 21 percent (up from 17 percent in 2005) said they plan to save up their own sick time for when their children are ill.

“Employees are pushing the limits of their health and showing up to work at all costs,” notes Dr. Richard Chaifetz, ComPsych’s CEO. He says the trend is driven in large part by “economic uncertainty and the significant debt loads taken on by consumers in the past two years.”