There were no clearcut, consensus conclusions. Inflation is likely to continue for same time, the group thought, and basing increases on an expected rate or period could lead to problems. A company is going to keep the best of their teams in place even during a slight recession, so forgoing or trying to keep the level of increase below employee expectations could lead to departures that will weaken the company during and after the recession. Given the prospects of a tight labor market, and intense competition among companies as their increase their presence and move into higher value-added business, corporate experts expect that companies will be forced into more deviations from a uniform payscale. We can say all we want that we will stick to our system, said one high tech executive, but we all know that we are going to be negotiating one-on-one to keep the best people inside our organization. 

What will define success in the next few months, said one CEO, is identifying the people you need most and what it will take to make them happy, while not more than necessary on the entire team, because committing alot today only to cut jobs tomorrow to cope with a recession will do a great deal of damage to morale. 

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