Adminstaff released results of Business Confidence Survey

The results of the latest Business Confidence Survey were announced today by Administaff, a leading provider of human resource services for small and medium-sized businesses. They say that more than 59 % of small business owners don’t expect an economic turnaround until 2010 or later, while 23 % anticipate a rebound by the end of 2009 and 17 % are unsure. As concerns the staffing plans, 62 % of participants said they are maintaining current staffing levels, 18 % are adding new positions, and just fewer than 19 % named layoffs as a current management strategy. As regards plans for employee salaries and wages for the remainder of the year, more than 10 % plan to increase compensation, while 58 % predict that they will maintain current levels. Less than 12 % have plans to decrease 2009 employee salaries and wages, and 19 % were unsure. Majority of owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses (more than 62 %) said that they are either meeting or exceeding their 2009 performance plans with the remaining 37 % reporting that they are doing worse than expected. As for current profit-generating activities of the participants, 66 % listed selling new accounts as the leading strategy. This was followed closely on a national level by 66 % also naming increased service to clients. Negotiating with vendors ranked third, with 45 %, and survey participants listed acquisitions as fourth at 18 %. Administaff also announced compensation data from its base of more than 6,000 small and medium-sized businesses. Compared to the first quarter data from 2008, average compensation is up 4.8 % in 2009, bonuses are down 0.5 % and commissions declined by 8.7 %, a sign that sales continue to be slow.