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Only 43% of U.S. companies expect to provide compensation increases in 2010.  In addition to the wage freeze, 37% of companies say they plan to cut benefits.

The Society of Human Resources Professional quotes a Careerbuilder survey that claims 65% of companies provided compensation increases during the deepest part of the recession and only 32% planned to cut benefits. That’s a 12% decrease in companies offering raises during 2010. And a 13% increase in companies cutting benefits.

On top of this bleak employee news is last week’s 2% increase for federal government employees. If you haven’t spoken yet spoken with your employees and been transparent about whether you plan to offer raises this year, you should make that topic a hot priority.  Mainstream media continues reporting about a jobless recovery, but media reports can’t shoulder your burden. If you’re not giving employees a pay increase during 2010, part of being a responsive employer is telling them now to reduce their anxiety and be fair.

You can be certain that anyone you might lose over this issue is going to walk if you plan on freezing compensation this year.  Whether they walk right now or when you tell them in a few weeks or months is akin to choosing what poison you plan to breathe.

Cynics will note that the true jobless rate is over 17% while reported unemployment is 10%.   That means many employees likely won’t leave over compensation issues.  Your stars won’t leave if you’ve created a great environment.  And if you have staff who aren’t stars that leave, this is an employer’s market so wish them well and hire a star because you surely don’t buy into that nonsense about having a mix of star and average employees on your team.

As a small business owner, you need to be blunt, but kind.   You’ll need talking points about when you anticipate restoring compensation increases.  Your accountant and attorney should be involved at least in reviewing your talking points.  If your organization is big enough to have a HR professional, put that person on the case today with a draft due to you by Wednesday so you can make the announcement Friday.

Your takeaway as a small business leader is that staying quiet about compensation is an unacceptable form of avoidance for any organization, much less a small business in the midst of a horrible economic downturn.

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Gmail users are able to customize their email experience as well as mail for almost any platform.  That and the free or low cost may be one of the reasons for Gmail’s ubiquity.  I even saw Gmail in use on Capitol Hill last year while visiting my Senator’s office. Gmail send and archive option

When I talk with Gmail users, however, few discuss the extended Labs function.  In a few rare instances, I’ve had to restart my email, but almost all of the Labs features I’ve used are time savers, utility enhancements or even solved a problem I didn’t know I had.

The Send and Archive feature falls into all of those categories. You know that person who spent too much time in the ’90s categorizing their email?  Yep, that was me.  But with virtually unlimited storage, I don’t even mess with tagging or other features any longer.  Instead I make use of the Send & Archive feature.

The feature adds another button next to the boring old SEND button.  Once the mail is sent, Gmail places the thread in the “All Mail” area. No muss, no fuss, and if you need to find something later, just remember a phrase to narrow your search or look at all the mail you sent during that time or to that person.

If you’re using Gmail and your inbox has more than a few pieces inside, do yourself a favor and check out the SEND & ARCHIVE feature now.  All you need to do is click the LABS icon in the upper right corner that looks like a beaker (labs, get it?) and scroll down.  And a friendly hint:  add only one new labs feature at a time.  You’ll thank me for that advice later.

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We blog about honesty in small business a lot.  When you boil everything away, a small business is all about the team bringing a product or service to market.  If integrity is an issue for any reason, the business will not survive.  That’s not speculation.  I’ve been involved in a number of startups and assisted countless others.   When the company’s integrity — with employees, with vendors, with customers, with anyone — was gone, word spread like wildfire and the company was either soon gone or sold for a fraction of its previous worth.

Individuals have the same issues.   Individual integrity is what transfers to the organization.

Baseball writer and guru Peter Gammons covered this year’s Hall of Fame vote at MLB.com.  Gammons joined all MLB.com writers eligible to vote in releasing ballot details.

McGwire hit more home runs than all but 7 other men in baseball history. He is currently tied with A-Rod, the infamous Alex Rodridguez, with 583 career home runs. Look at the home run chart on Baseball-Reference.com, and you’ll see McGwire’s name ahead of names like Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle and very, very close to names like Babe Ruth.

But when Congress was investigating performance-enhancing drugs, Mark McGwire gave this testimony.

His non-answer might have been legally smart, but it was professional suicide.  For four straight years, the Baseball Writers of America have denied McGwire, once considered a shoo-in during his first year of eligibility a place in baseball’s Hall of Fame.  Gammons voted for him and wrote an impassioned defense of the case.  But only one other of Gammons’ 12 colleagues at MLB.com joined him in voting for Mark McGwire.  Indeed, Mark McGwire has yet to receive 30% of the votes necessary for Hall of Fame enshrinement.   And with a total of 5 of the top 15 home run hitters of all time linked at least indirectly to performance-enhancing drug use, the trend is likely to continue.

Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is another example of integrity.  This middle-aged women scrapped and fought her way to run one of America’s largest cities.   Late last year she was indicted on twelve criminal charges, including perjury, theft and misappropriation of funds.

  • The charge that stuck and eventually resulted in a conviction: misappropriation.
  • The amount: about five hundred dollars in gift cards.
  • The intended recipients: poor people via charitable organizations.

Dixon has resigned.  Her last day as Mayor of Baltimore is next month.    Baltimore’s citizens are not pleased. She is a pariah in her hometown, a place she has lived for over 50 years, where she taught school, where she served on the City Council, where she was the mayor.

These are celebrity examples, but they underscore a critical point.  The minute you start losing your integrity is when your entire life’s work can be diminished.    Honesty is the only successful long run policy.   Anything less than that invites disaster.