This question is certainly on the forefront of many American’s minds as we struggle collectively through the current economic crisis. While having stable employment “period” is certainly the most critical achievement for most folks today, many companies are eliminating and reducing the benefits they offer their employees, such as cutting bonuses, pensions, 401(k) plans, or salary increases. Unfavorable business conditions have left few options for companies to remain profitable, thus trimming existing employee benefits has become a widespread method of reducing costs.

But will these benefit cuts be reversed once the economy gets back on track? That is one of the questions posed in a recent poll by Harris Interactive. In the nationwide survey, 2280 U.S. adults participated in an online survey between March 24 and 26, 2009. Some of the findings include:

• A little more than a third of Americans (36%) believe that businesses will reinstate annual salary increases that match or exceed inflation; 23% are convinced they will not, and 41% are “on the fence”.
• One third (32%) of Americans believe companies will reinstate eliminated pensions, while one quarter (25%) say they will not. 43% are unsure.
• As far as lost bonuses, one third (32%) of Americans believe they will come back to life, while 27% say they are permanently gone; 41% are unsure.
• Thirty percent of American workers believe their 401(k) matching benefits will be reinstated, while 23% do not; a whopping 47% have no clue.

According to the poll:

“Overall, there is a great deal of uncertainty about how companies will behave in the future. Large pluralities of Americans are uncertain if businesses will reinstate any of the cuts in salaries and benefits made in the wake of the economic crisis,” says Howard Lax, senior vice president, Financial Services Research Group, Harris Interactive. “There is a ray of hope, however, in that one-third of respondents are optimists expecting cuts to be reversed, outnumbering the one-quarter of pessimists who think the cuts will be permanent.”

What do you think, readers- are you a pessimist, or and optimist – have these companies found a way to make these modifications permanent?

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