The economic condition are taking a toll on businesses around the world. What is the impact on the Six Sigma community? This research explores how Six Sigma companies are responding to the crisis, looking first at business operations, and then at improvement programs themselves... http://bit.ly/auHji2

1. R ESEARCH
Bonuses and 401K
2
2.1 Magnitude of reductions in general business areas in the last six months
matches are taking
■ < 10% ■ 10-25% ■ 26-50% ■ 51-75% ■ > 75% the biggest hits pro-
FINDING portionately in budget
3% reductions. The overall approach of
Budgets
(N = 587)
29% 50% 15% 2% most companies to the economic
climate: weather the storm.
Company travel Reductions in business may be wide-
19% 27% 21% 14% 19%
(N = 575) spread, but what’s the magnitude of
the cuts? Of respondents who reported
Company perks
23% 29% 14% 12% 22% budget cuts, half said the reduction
(N = 438)
was between 10 percent and 25 per-
Training programs cent. A reduction of less than 10 per-
25% 22% 17% 12% 24%
(N = 447) cent was reported by 29 percent, and
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
15 percent said reductions were
between 26 percent and 50 percent.
Percentage of respondents
The area seeing the largest reduc-
Each bar represents only the respondents who reported reductions at their company. tions percentage wise is employee
bonuses, according to survey data.
2.2 Magnitude of reductions in employee compensation and benefits in the Bonus pay is down 50 percent or
last six months more as reported by 43 percent of
respondents. Company matches to
■ < 10% ■ 10-25% ■ 26-50% ■ 51-75% ■ > 75% 401K employee retirement accounts
6% are down by the same amount, accord-
Employee bonuses 30% 16% 11% 37% ing to 37 percent of respondents.
(N = 339)
When respondents were asked
1%
Employee salaries 59% 31% 7% 3% how their company’s management is
(N = 199) responding to the economic downturn,
2%
401K match the majority said their leaders are “hun-
(N = 162)
41% 15% 7% 35%
kering down” to weather the storm.
1% Only a small number of respondents
Healthcare 62% 20% 8% 9%
(N = 151) said their company is closing its doors
4% or “doing nothing.”
Retirement 51% 18% 8% 20%
(N = 128) Almost half of respondents said
6% 6% management at their company is “real-
Vacation 54% 22% 12%
(N = 83) locating resources to improve process-
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
es.” More than one-third reported that
Percentage of respondents
one way their company is responding
is to innovate products or services that
Each bar represents only the respondents who reported reductions at their company. will generate new revenue.
2.3 Please select the description that describes your view of how management at your company is
reacting to the current economic climate. (Select all that apply.) (N = 725)
The majority of
Hunkering down, trimming costs, weathering the storm 62% these respon-
Short-term business plan focused (How do we survive today?) 54% dents reported
that their
Long-term business plan focused (How do we plan for future viability?) 52% company is
Reallocating resources to improve processes 49% also focused
Innovating new revenue-generating products/services 36% on reallocating
resources to
Selling or closing non-core business lines 11% improve process-
Closing doors 4% es (65%) and
on new products
Management is doing nothing 4%
and services
(51%).
38% of these respondents reported 19% of these respondents are from small compa-
that their company is also focused on nies with less than $50M in revenue, while 42% are
new products and services from companies with more than $1B in revenue.
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