Business Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff
and wire services
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FAST FACTS HAWAII
NATION
What's behind that job counteroffer?
No doubt you're a talented, valuable member of your company's work force. Perhaps you've been approached about a new position, or have been perusing more interesting or lucrative career pastures.
Would your current employer seek to keep you? The world of counteroffers is a tricky beast, advises The Creative Group, a temp-staffing company based in Menlo Park, Calif.
What to do? The agency offers a few questions that might help clarify the situation:
» Why are they offering? Is their counteroffer a result that you're a truly vital cog in a successful machine or just because they'll be in a lurch if you leave?
» What's the work you do? A better salary or new title won't much help if you're still feeling stuck with horrendous assignments or have gotten into a career impasse in your current job.
» What's the outlook? Have you requested, with justification, a raise or promotion and been denied? The best employers promote talented people on staff and compensate them fairly on a consistent basis, not just when they're forced to do so.
Car buyers could do more research
If you're in the market for a new vehicle, consider a short stint with Auto Financing 101 before you saunter into a car dealership. A survey by an industry-backed consumer education group suggests that many people do not.
More than three-quarters, 76 percent, conceded they do not check their credit scores and more than 70 percent said they don't compare financing options from dealers, banks or credit unions before they visit a showroom.
But there is some research: Nearly 60 percent said they do examine data on truck and car models before they visit a dealer.
The November poll involved 1,030 adults. The group is known as AWARE, or Americans Well-informed on Automobile Retailing Economics. It includes the National Automobile Dealers Association and lenders American Honda Finance Corp., DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Americas, General Motors Acceptance Corp., and Ford Motor Credit.
Execs fault companies over risk
Other than common sense, how well are U.S. companies managing the various risks they confront? Not very, according to a query of top executives.
Barely a third, 38 percent, described their organization as "very effective" at managing risk and 58 percent said their companies assess risk in only a few areas.
Still, the executives said they're willing to assume risks, with 40 percent saying their companies take moderate risks and 30 percent saying their company's appetite for risk is high.
So what are these potential frights? About half cited weaknesses in client service as a "very significant" risk and 45 percent said shortcomings in the security of their information systems posed a risk. About 43 percent cited the requirements of federal accounting reporting requirements as risky.
The data were culled from interviews with 75 executives at the CEO or other top levels.
The survey was for Protiviti Inc., a risk consulting and audit firm. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of staffing services company Robert Half International Inc.