Nation's Executives Crossed Off Santa's List
According to Compensation Design Group

NEW YORK, NY - December 18, 2001 -- The year of 2001 marked the end of an era. It was the end of dot com utopia, the end of a ten-year economic joyride and, much to the dismay of executives throughout the country, it will be the end of lavish year-end bonuses. When executives search their holiday stockings for a lump sum bonus this year, they're more likely to find a lump of coal.

"Unfortunately, not only the bonuses - due to the significant decline in capital markets and share value across the board, stock options seem more a part of a Jacques Cousteau underwater adventure than the icon of golden value that they were a year ago," said Frank Glassner, president and CEO of Compensation Design Group, an international consulting firm specializing in executive compensation. "Additionally, cash-based year-end bonuses will be somewhere between zero and disappointing this year. It has been one of the most financially horrific years in recent history, as companies in every industry sector suffered substantial earnings declines."

Glassner said that 2002 and 2003 will likely be years of recovery. "If companies design clearly defined, easily understood incentive programs that are linked to company success factors, then everyone - executives and shareholders alike - will be winners," he said.

As a 26-year executive compensation consulting veteran, Glassner predicts a change in the way companies approach compensation. "The upward trend of executive compensation that we've become accustomed to just might start to reverse itself," he said. "I believe that companies are going to begin to look for capital effective solutions for the design and management of compensation programs. They have to if they want to survive this harsh new economic climate."

Headquartered in New York, the Compensation Design Group focuses on delivering cost effective and customized compensation, benefits and human resources programs. The company's team of experts are among the nation's top professionals in the field and are dedicated to ensuring that the client experience with the Compensation Design Group is both rewarding and profitable.