We were told last week that there would be no pay raises next year and that all captial expenditure requests above a certain (small) amount would be rejected.

No lay-offs, reduced hours, or pay cuts... yet.

I've had 3 job offers rescinded due to "market conditions".

I've given up looking for work.

I got no raise last year, do not expect one this year... hoping to have job in the coming weeks.

Did get a bonus last year...do not expect one this year.

Owners are taking significant pay cuts

No problem yet. Boss says company is doing ok. Not sure what to believe. I have an offshore company wanting to pay me (they are in a foreign country) to do some simple LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) work so I'm going to try to do this part time also. I need to sock away as much cash as possible before the hammer falls.

I get at least 5 recruiter calls a day. The ones from India are a joke as the guys are mumbling and have a heavy accent. I can't even understand what they are saying. I wish I could accept some of these interviews because I can't predict how my current company is doing, but I have a good deal, the pay is as much as I've ever made before, and it's a great group of people so I'm being loyal no matter what.

Oh, I'm a software developer with a lot of experience in both Linux and Windows.

No business travel for over a year now. All but minor expenses subject to VP approval. All capital projects tightly scrutinized by finance: only strong business cases being approved (payback less than 1 year).

Oh yeah, hiring freeze, layoffs, entire departments being outsourced. Don't know about bonus or pay cuts yet

Hubby gets a 10% pay cut next year (they already told him). We are just happy to still have health insurance. That is our biggest fear....we can afford everything else on part time pay.

I'm not job hunting till next year. Not too worried since there are lots of openings listed for what I do.

Hiring freeze.

I expect a pay freeze AND a layoff though management denies it. But then they didn't see it coming either.....

Reminder - if you're going to post in Polls, you have to actually run a poll!

If you're an original poster there's a "POLL" button under your avatar. Use it to set up the poll.

this is a loaded poll, you should add an option for no changes or is hiring

that being said we just announced pay freeze for 2009

No pay raises for the last 2 yrs ... 3% pay cut ... 401k match pulled ...
significant layoffs ... all capex froze ...

oh ... by the way ... company is BK

I work for a nonprofit community mental health provider. As soon as the state makes a decision about budget cuts, we'll know about cuts. Fortunately, my director is both conservative and canny. She had FTE in this fiscal year's budget that she was not going to release until January. Now she won't release it at all. The hope is to cut that before she moves to human beings, but I'll probably have to lay off someone before this is all over. I manage a clinic and we're tied to clinical manpower. Cut clincians, cut support staff.

On the plus side, my employer has spent the last 2 years getting past all the nonprofit crap and has actually started running like a real business. We had to drag people kicking and screaming (these are social workers, not MBAs), but we did and so we're going into this in the best financial shape we've ever been.

So, we'll be the only one of our peer agencies in the area who will offer 3% raises in 2009. Lest you think that is irresponsible, it will be the 3rd raise I have received (except for a promotion salary increase)in the 10 years I have worked here. It will also be the highest raise I have ever received here. Truly, when the state cuts social services, no 3% raise is going to save any of the affected programs.


If you live in the Portland, OR area, you're going to notice a lot more people on the street seeing stuff and talking to people who aren't there. I'm sure that will be true for most places. That's inevitable - we're tapped out. I'm just hoping the police don't start shooting them as they are inclined to do. Bootstraps and "getting over yourself" don't work well with psychotic illness.

(Don't get me wrong - I like police. They just mix with the mentally ill like oil and matches.)

No bonuses, 12.5% salary cut (we HAVE to take one week out of every 8 off, no pay) - (I work for a nonprofit publishing house)

GF's firm was recently hiring and she received a Xmas bonus. She's also swamped with work, and staying late a few days a week. She is in retail packaging design, which will probably be the last sector to be hit, seeing as how the box looks is often more important than taste of what is in it these days.

I am self-employed as a tax preparer and debt counselor, not looking for any slow times in the near future.

My sister works in a factory in North Ohio, they have cut back to a 4 day work week, taken two paid holidays and four personal days away, shuting down the plant for two weeks during Christmas/New Year, and no raise in the near future.

My buddy announced this AM that his whole company recieved a 5% paycut today + no more 401k matching. (FED EX)

So far, all clear. Nothing has changed....yet. I work as a paralegal in a law firm in Michigan.

Although, I haven't had word about bonuses yet. So, maybe my answer will change next week.

Wow. I'm the only one who voted 'No changes or is hiring'.

Layoffs are coming in January (merry christmas - I'll probably lose my job) - hiring was frozen weeks ago - capital expenditures on Exec approval only - no travel - all consultants released by end of January 2009.

I work for a public company in technology.

A hiring freeze was announced last week, and the next academy class that was schedule for January was cancelled. Five fire engine companies to be closed at night through out the city starting January 17th 2009. I'm also expecting Mayor Bloomberg to announce firehouse closings in the coming months, with the possibility of layoffs.

I am a New York City Firefighter

Capital request for my 2009 projects got approved today.

Knocking on wood now.

I'm with Pika -

So far, all clear.

Bonuses the same as last year.

Not hiring, but that would be unlikely in other years also - stable number for staff.

We have a general hiring freeze, but had an interview today to fill a 'critical' open position. I'm in the medical field, so the hurricane has not reached us yet, but we are feeling some of the outer winds.

I know I mentioned this before, don't want to sound like I'm rubbing it anyone's face. But if you're a programmer and looking for work, try defense. I just stepped through 5 pages of a job search on our internal site for keyword "linux". More probably, for Windows. I'm sure cuts will eventually come, but I keep asking around and so far not even our customers (.gov) are worried.

Venkman: I have friends who have been recently laid off. Any suggestions on places I could direct them in order to find these openings?

tx.

Any of the defense sector contractors, I'm guessing. I'd rather not say who I work for, but off the top of my head... Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrup, Raytheon, SAIC, BAE Systems, etc. Most if not all have a "job portal" or somesuch off the public web site.

A friend of mine just went to work for GD in Charlotsville VA. Says .gov is building a huge (acres) complex up there for intelligence data handling and analysis. Hundreds of new hires coming.

You're saying there were 5 pages of Linux jobs Venkman?

Nice. Hopefully I can be making the mo' money and buy a bunch of distressed assets soon.

In all honesty, I don't know how old fashioned businesses survive anymore. The waste and inefficiency is astounding. Like I worked in a college library, on an advanced research project to classify documents by machine learning (the new politically correct name for Artificial Intelligence) and the amount of fat that could be trimmed is astounding. The Library of Congress was a potential customer for our document classification software, but they were dragging their feet for years, no motivation to change the inbred structure, paying humans to classify books at a snails pace. Absolutely pathetic. I hope this deflationary depression lights a fire under a lot of asses and squeezes out the bull**** rampant in this culture.

Hi. I'm the computer programmer and I'm here to put you out of work.