Compensation 11th Edition by George Milkovich,Jerry Newman,Barry Gerhart

Exercise 6

World Measurement is the global leader in product testing for safety. The recent problem with Chinese-made toy products (for example, Mattel recalled 19 million toys with evidence of lead paint) combined with the global recession has caused a 7 percent decline in sales and a 12 percent decline in net profits. The president of the company, Lewis Jacobs, is convinced that he must get concessions from the workers if World Measurement is to compete effectively with increasing foreign competition. In particular, Jacobs is displeased with the cost of employee benefits. He doesn't mind conceding a competitive wage increase (maximum 3 percent), but he wants the total compensation package to cost 3 percent less. The current costs are shown in Exhibit 1.
Your assistant has surveyed other companies that are obtaining concessions from employees. You also have data from a consulting firm that indicates employee preferences for different forms of benefits (Exhibit 2). Based on all this information, you have two possible concession packages that you can propose, labeled "Option 1" and "Option 2" (Exhibit 3).
Which of the strategies do you think will require less input from employees in terms of their reactions