Saturday
Quality of life than a higher Salary
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Big paychecks and bonuses aren't everything.
Some employees would prefer a better quality of life than a higher salary, suggests a survey released Monday.
Sixty-two percent of small-business employees think that salaries are better at large companies, according to Salary.com's Working for a Small Business Survey.
But they like working at small companies anyway for reasons that include work/life balance, commute times, loyalty, bosses, and relationships with co-workers.
Forty-six percent of those surveyed said the work/life balance was one of the reasons they stayed at a small firm, while 38 percent also cited having an easier commute, 35 percent credited loyalty, 31 percent like their boss and 30 percent mentioned relationships with co-workers.
"Different organizations have different things to offer, and money isn't everything - but it's not nothing," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president and chief compensation officer at Salary.com.
When it comes to base salary, he added, "smaller organizations sometimes have a harder time competing with bigger companies, but they do have other things going for them. They have culture, environment and flexibility."
Also, the perception that big companies offer better salaries may not always be true. Of those surveyed who had worked for a large company, 75 percent said that at a bigger firm, the benefits were better, and 45 percent said the opportunities to move up were greater. Just 38 percent of those respondents said pay was actually better at a large company.
Salary.com surveyed 474 employees from small and large companie
Some employees would prefer a better quality of life than a higher salary, suggests a survey released Monday.
Sixty-two percent of small-business employees think that salaries are better at large companies, according to Salary.com's Working for a Small Business Survey.
But they like working at small companies anyway for reasons that include work/life balance, commute times, loyalty, bosses, and relationships with co-workers.
Forty-six percent of those surveyed said the work/life balance was one of the reasons they stayed at a small firm, while 38 percent also cited having an easier commute, 35 percent credited loyalty, 31 percent like their boss and 30 percent mentioned relationships with co-workers.
"Different organizations have different things to offer, and money isn't everything - but it's not nothing," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president and chief compensation officer at Salary.com.
When it comes to base salary, he added, "smaller organizations sometimes have a harder time competing with bigger companies, but they do have other things going for them. They have culture, environment and flexibility."
Also, the perception that big companies offer better salaries may not always be true. Of those surveyed who had worked for a large company, 75 percent said that at a bigger firm, the benefits were better, and 45 percent said the opportunities to move up were greater. Just 38 percent of those respondents said pay was actually better at a large company.
Salary.com surveyed 474 employees from small and large companie
Friday
20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq
George Bush said that he plans to send 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help keep the country from becoming a haven for terrorists.
Arab perspective: Playing US politics with Iraqi blood for oil
Bracing for 2008 presidential election, US Democrats in opposition and the ruling Republicans have embroiled the American public in a political crisis between the executive and legislative powers over deadlines for combat operations in Iraq that could develop into a constitutional showdown, but for Arabs and Iraqis in particular it is merely playing electoral politics with Iraqi blood for oil because the Democratic Alternative for President George W. Bush’s strategy, when scrutinized, promises them no fundamental change to the bloody status quo.
Building on the recommendation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group of James Baker and Lee Hamilton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi engaged Syrian leaders amid cautious Arab diplomatic and media welcome after her arrival in Damascus on Tuesday in a visit that enraged President George W. Bush, in the latest manifestation of Democrat-Republican colliding approaches to secure American national interests in Iraq. Pelosi said she hoped to rebuild lost confidence between Washington and Damascus, but American politicians of both mainstream parties have a long way to go before they could win over the hearts and minds of the wider Arab masses and redress the negative public image of their country among Arabs, an image that the occupation of Iraq has damaged probably beyond repair for a long time to come.
Democrats were perceived by Arabs as promising to offer an alternative to Bush strategy in Iraq, but so far have merely proved themselves responsive to their voters’ anti-war sentiments: 60 percent of the public wants to get out of Iraq, the election defeat of the Republicans was a strong indication of public sentiment, expectations have risen, yet the killing goes on, and in some ways gets worse. Yet the Democrats’ supplemental budget bill provides funding to continue the war, while setting a controversial date to end it, and there is disagreement on its strategic effect. They could neither raise the “mission accomplished” banner nor could promise to do so in the near future, not even after Bush’s constitutional mandate expires. How do frustrated Iraqis and Arabs make sense of “this” Democratic alternative?
Building on the recommendation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group of James Baker and Lee Hamilton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi engaged Syrian leaders amid cautious Arab diplomatic and media welcome after her arrival in Damascus on Tuesday in a visit that enraged President George W. Bush, in the latest manifestation of Democrat-Republican colliding approaches to secure American national interests in Iraq. Pelosi said she hoped to rebuild lost confidence between Washington and Damascus, but American politicians of both mainstream parties have a long way to go before they could win over the hearts and minds of the wider Arab masses and redress the negative public image of their country among Arabs, an image that the occupation of Iraq has damaged probably beyond repair for a long time to come.
Democrats were perceived by Arabs as promising to offer an alternative to Bush strategy in Iraq, but so far have merely proved themselves responsive to their voters’ anti-war sentiments: 60 percent of the public wants to get out of Iraq, the election defeat of the Republicans was a strong indication of public sentiment, expectations have risen, yet the killing goes on, and in some ways gets worse. Yet the Democrats’ supplemental budget bill provides funding to continue the war, while setting a controversial date to end it, and there is disagreement on its strategic effect. They could neither raise the “mission accomplished” banner nor could promise to do so in the near future, not even after Bush’s constitutional mandate expires. How do frustrated Iraqis and Arabs make sense of “this” Democratic alternative?
Why Asian oil firms are likely to be first at Iraqi's oil
Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil, the first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq's new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
While Iraqi lawmakers struggle to pass an agreement on exactly who will award the contracts and how the revenue will be shared, experts say a draft version that passed the cabinet earlier this year will likely uphold agreements previously signed by those countries under Saddam Hussein's government.
"The Chinese could announce something within the next few months" if all goes well with the oil law, said James Placke, a senior associate at Cambridge Energy Research Associates who specializes in the Middle East.
Behind high oil and gas prices
The Asian firms are at an advantage for several reasons.
First, less constrained by Western sanctions during the Hussein regime, they've been operating in Iraq and know the country's oilfields, said Falah Aljibury, an energy analyst who has advised several Iraqi oil ministers as well as other OPEC nations.
Aljibury said the first contracts likely awarded will be to the Chinese in the south central part of Iraq, the Vietnamese in the south, the Indians along the Kuwaiti border, and the Indonesians in the western desert.
The contracts under consideration are small.
Aljibury said the Chinese agreement is to produce about 70,000 barrels of oil a day, while the Vietnamese one is for about 60,000.
It's hard to put a dollar amount on what those contracts might be worth, as security costs, drilling conditions and the exact terms to be offered by Baghdad are unknown, said Christopher Ruppel, a senior geopolitical analyst with the consulting firm John S. Herold.
But the barrel amount is tiny even by Iraq's depressed post-war production of around 2 million barrels a day.
And the country is thought to be able to ramp up production to over 3 million barrels a day with fairly little effort, providing the security situation improves. Rosy estimates even have Iraq producing 6 million barrels a day in the long term, which would make it the world's No. 4 producer behind Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
While Iraqi lawmakers struggle to pass an agreement on exactly who will award the contracts and how the revenue will be shared, experts say a draft version that passed the cabinet earlier this year will likely uphold agreements previously signed by those countries under Saddam Hussein's government.
"The Chinese could announce something within the next few months" if all goes well with the oil law, said James Placke, a senior associate at Cambridge Energy Research Associates who specializes in the Middle East.
Behind high oil and gas prices
The Asian firms are at an advantage for several reasons.
First, less constrained by Western sanctions during the Hussein regime, they've been operating in Iraq and know the country's oilfields, said Falah Aljibury, an energy analyst who has advised several Iraqi oil ministers as well as other OPEC nations.
Aljibury said the first contracts likely awarded will be to the Chinese in the south central part of Iraq, the Vietnamese in the south, the Indians along the Kuwaiti border, and the Indonesians in the western desert.
The contracts under consideration are small.
Aljibury said the Chinese agreement is to produce about 70,000 barrels of oil a day, while the Vietnamese one is for about 60,000.
It's hard to put a dollar amount on what those contracts might be worth, as security costs, drilling conditions and the exact terms to be offered by Baghdad are unknown, said Christopher Ruppel, a senior geopolitical analyst with the consulting firm John S. Herold.
But the barrel amount is tiny even by Iraq's depressed post-war production of around 2 million barrels a day.
And the country is thought to be able to ramp up production to over 3 million barrels a day with fairly little effort, providing the security situation improves. Rosy estimates even have Iraq producing 6 million barrels a day in the long term, which would make it the world's No. 4 producer behind Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
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