Use the 2009 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey to…

• Identify HR operating expenses that you can—or can’t—afford to cut.
• Benchmark your firm’s medical, dental, and life insurance packages against those of your peers to see if you can cut back on this costly expense.
• Support your firm’s paid time off procedures and other firm policies with hard data on industry norms.
• Find out if firms are projecting salary increases for 2009 and make sure your salary budgets are in line.
• Get data on HR directors’ typical backgrounds, education, roles, and compensation and find out how your HR staff stacks up.

The key to growing your firm and reaching your strategic goals often rests with the quality of your employees, and the quality of your firm's policies, procedures, and benefits is critical to hiring and retaining a top-notch workforce. But with benefits costs spiraling out of control, you also need to keep a close eye on the bottom line. How do you draw the line between offering benefits to attract the right staff to your firm and costly expenses that will break the bank?

The 2009 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms will help you benchmark your firm against industry standards so you can find out if you're overspending on benefits and compensation. The survey will also provide you with industry norms on policies and procedures so you can support your policy decisions with hard data. Get all the benchmarks you need on compensation policies, benefits, HR staff, and other major HR issues. The results are broken down by firm type, size, region, and other factors so you can make comparisons between your firm and others just like it. All information is the most current available, so decisions about your firm's policies and procedures can be made with confidence.

Topics covered in the 2009 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey include:

• Health, dental & life insurance: With skyrocketing health insurance costs, are most firms still covering insurance premiums in full? If not, how much does the firm pay, and what's the employee contribution? We've structured this section to include firm and employee contributions both as a dollar amount and as a percentage amount—so no matter how your firm's insurance is set up, you can compare your costs to what other firms are spending.
• Compensation: By how much did salaries increase in 2008, and what are firms projecting for 2009? What's the normal increase for a 50-person architecture or interiors firm, and what's typical for a 250-person E/A firm? Find out how much is enough—and how much is too much—for employee raises and set your firm's compensation budget with hard data from other firms just like yours.
• Paid time off: When should employees be eligible for three weeks of vacation time? Do firms include sick time with vacation time, or do they use separate categories? What holidays are typically given in other firms just like yours? Whether you think employees in your firm deserve more time off or you think they're getting too much as it is, this section will give you the hard data to make a solid argument as to why you should change your firm's policies (or keep them the same).
• Staffing: Hiring is tough in any economy. This section includes data on everything from firms' difficulties and success with hiring to recruiting/HR budgets to what kinds of background checks firms conduct on potential hires. To be successful, you have to hire the right people. Find out what your competition is doing when it comes to hiring new employees, and make sure you stay one step ahead!
• Time & travel: How do other firms handle employee travel? What's charged to the project or client, and what gets included in overhead? How much do firms reimburse employees for meals, lodging, car rental, and other travel expenses? Get the answers to these questions and make sure your firm's policies are consistent with the rest of the industry!
• Human resources staff: Are you worried that your firm is dedicating too many, or not enough, staff to HR tasks? Find out what's normal for a firm of your size. Also get data on HR directors' education, experience, responsibilities, and compensation. HR is an important function in any firm—make sure your firm's staff is qualified!

This is only a sampling of the information covered in this report. Information on continuing education, general policies such as e-mail and Internet use, dress code, and work hours and overtime are also included. With the 2009 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey, not only will you see where your firm stands in every area of HR management, you'll get the hard facts you need to make money-saving decisions about your firm's compensation and benefits packages with authority!