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Volume XXII, Number 27
October 12, 2001

1015 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-347-7474
Fax 202-898-0068
www.acec.org

E-mail acec@acec.org

Francis George, Editor
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What is Compensation?

Labor is a commodity. Like other commodities, the price of labor is determined by supply and demand. Compensation is defined as all forms of financial returns, tangible services, and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship, or the rewards that employees receive in exchange for their work.

Total compensation is the complete pay package for employees including all forms of money, benefits, services, and in-kind payments.

What Constitutes an Effective System?

• Wages for every employee should be fair and equitable.

• Cost of payroll should be in agreement with overall financial performance of the firm.

• The system should be understandable to all employees.

• The pay scales should be able to reflect the importance of each job. Level of importance can be defined as "how is this employee able to affect the bottom line."

• The compensation policies should be set in accordance with federal, state and local laws, and should include minimum wage and job classifications.

The compensation policies should be flexible enough to accommodate varying changes in the labor market.

Excerpted from the 2000 ACEC Human Resources Guideline to Practice, ACEC Publication #LW-341-00. This two floppy disk set created in Microsoft Word 7.0 is a guide on how to manage human resource duties so that you are able to hire great people, manage them within the guidelines of the law, and build a team that makes your company more effective.

Also included is a sample manual that can be tailored to fit the needs of your own firm, printed out, and used as your firm’s own HR manual. This electronic publication is available through ACEC Publications #LW341-00, $89 members, $119 non-members, $4 shipping. Orders should be sent to ACEC, FAX (202) 789-7220, by e-mail at publications@acec.org, or download your version online at www.acec.org/publications. For email and fax orders please include your Mastercard, Visa, or American Express number with the expiration date, contact name, firm name, street address, phone number, and e-mail address.

 

GA Report

This week's edition:
October 12, 2001

ACEC Adopts New Logo Graphic

In a bold step to improve ACEC’s name recognition and strengthen the unity of the Federation, the Executive Committee has approved an enhanced representation of the Council’s official logo (See image in the upper left hand corner of this newsletter).

The Executive Committee reaffirmed Article 1, Section B of the Bylaws of the Council, which says that the logo of the Council is the abbreviation "ACEC," and discontinued the use of the "triangular expression" or "pinwheel" graphic adopted in 1993 which was found to have little public recognition and was not used with the logo by most Member Organizations.

Strengthening the Council’s Name Recognition

Research undertaken by the independent firm of Ogilvy Public Relations in connection with the recent successful ACEC name change revealed that the official Council logo "ACEC" had substantial brand recognition that needed to be leveraged, but that the pinwheel graphic that had also been used as an ACEC symbol had no such value; nor was its design uniquely identified with engineering or ACEC. In fact, according to Ogilvy, the pinwheel actually distracted from the more easily recognized logo "ACEC."

Based upon the Executive Committee’s desire for a simple and visually powerful graphic that would leverage the logo "ACEC," Ogilvy proposed several graphic enhancements at the July 2001 Executive Committee meeting. The Executive Committee provided further direction to Ogilvy to consolidate the best features from their suggestions into a single, striking graphic. Such a graphic was developed in early August 2001, and adopted by the Executive Committee in October. The graphic depicts the official logo in a dark gray, bold serif font with a gold accenting curve on top and the name "American Council of Engineering Companies" below.

Planning Cabinet Expresses Immediate Approval

Unanimous endorsement of the Executive Committee’s action came almost immediately from the ACEC Planning Cabinet, which issued the following statement:

The Planning Cabinet reaffirms that the logo of the Council is the abbreviation "ACEC," as stated in the Bylaws. Furthermore, the Planning Cabinet endorses the use of the graphical representation of the logo ‘ACEC’ as contained in ACEC Chairman Goddard’s e-mail of October 9, 2001, to the National Directors and MO leadership. The Planning Cabinet strongly recommends that all Member Organizations adopt that logo as the standard. Finally, the Planning Cabinet recommends that those M.O.s concerned with retaining the ‘brand value’ of their present logo should incorporate into their brand the ACEC standard above.

North Carolina, Washington State M.O.s Move Quickly to Adopt Official Standard

Two M.O.s have already moved quickly to endorse and adopt the enhanced logo. Executive Directors Henry Stikes of North Carolina and Bill Garrity of Washington report that their M.O.s have adopted the logo to help achieve their state and national objectives.

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ACEC/North Carolina’s Newsletter featured a "spotlight on the ACEC logo":

Since 1973, when the American Consulting Engineers Council was formed, the acronym ACEC has been the official logo of the Council. However, the logo itself was greatly diminished when the circle and three pronged star symbol was created to display the logo.

In 1993, the ACEC Executive Committee revised the symbology by replacing it with the triangular "pin wheel" (or as is said in North Carolina, "Whirly-gig"). This is the current symbol which overshadows the logo "ACEC" placed beneath it.

In May of this year, there was a unanimous vote by Member Organizations of ACEC to change the name of the Council and at the same time retain the acronym (and logo). The new name American Council of Engineering Companies, approved in May, became official on August 1st.

With this change in name, recommendations also surfaced suggesting that the logo become more prominently displayed to enhance the name recognition of the Council.

As a result, the original logo of the Council will now be used as it should be, without the distraction of symbology. This shift in emphasis falls in line with other logos that are easily recognized such as AGC, AIA, NBC, CBS, PPS, ASCE, etc. For a look at the logo, members should log onto the ACEC website at www.acec.org, go to The Last Word. Enter your user name of "acecmember," password "design" and look at the September 28th issue of The Last Word.

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Garrity of Washington State observed, "From the time I came to ACEC seven years ago, one of my concerns was the lack of consistent name identity throughout our Federation. The reaffirmation of ‘ACEC’ as the official logo for the Council signifies that ‘ACEC’ represents our industry. The simple abbreviation ‘ACEC’ links all of us together for the first time in a simple, direct way."

ACEC Chairman Steve Goddard applauded the swift action of North Carolina and Washington, saying "I encourage all the M.O.s to adopt the official logo of the Council as their own in order to strengthen the unity of the Federation and our national name recognition." Goddard added that "In order to effectively advance our political agenda nationwide, the ACEC name should increasingly be viewed as synonymous with our industry at the national, state, and local levels."

Stimulus Packages Proposed in Congress

ACEC has lobbied the House and Senate leadership for infrastructure spending as part of any stimulus legislation that moves forward. While we support the tax relief put forth by the White House, we feel that increased spending will create the jobs needed to re-invigorate the economy while achieving infrastructure development goals.

Last Friday President Bush released a plan that called for $50 billion worth of individual and corporate tax cuts, with no infrastructure spending component. In the Senate, members of both parties are talking up various plans, while in the House a deep divide presently exists. While Democrats from the T&I committee have developed a $50 billion plan, their leadership today released a plan calling for $110 billion in spending.

All of the plans floating around Capitol Hill contain some element of tax breaks, and most, but not all, contain added dollars for infrastructure. While the situation is quite fluid at this time, in general the plans we are supporting so far contain some or all of the following:

• $5-$8 billion for highways projects

• $5 billion for transit

• $23 billion (in the form of tax credits and dollars) for high-speed rail and Amtrak

• $1-$8.5 billion for clean water and waste water upgrades

• $1 billion for flood control programs

• $1 billion for port access projects

• $30 million-$10 billion for environmental remediation

For more information, contact John Carney (jcarney@acec.org) at ACEC.

Newly Elected Fellows Are Recognized

The Committee of Fellows has elevated several members to the Fellow Membership over the past several months. These individuals have been selected by their peers for having contributed to the consulting engineering profession through leadership, design, science, or education for many years.

The Committee of Fellows recognizes the following individuals as newly-elected fellows: William Addington, Grand Terrace, CA; Harry G. Anderson, Cleveland, OH; John A. Baker, Sacramento, CA; Dominic B. Carrino, Florham Park, NJ; Derrell E. Johnson, Fort Worth, TX; Chester C. Kelsey, Mineola, NY; Edward J. Mulcahy, Kansas City, MO; Kenneth E. Nelson, Chicago, IL; Michael A. Postiglione, St. Louis, MO; Donald E. Ross, New York, NY; Wayne F. Shuler, Cincinnati, OH; Ed Van Dell, Irvine, CA; and Robert Wright, Raleigh, NC. For more information on how to become a Fellow, please contact your member organization.

ENR’s 2001 Construction Summit

ACEC is a supporting organization for the 5th ENR Construction Summit, November 5-6, 2001, at the Capital Hilton, Washington DC. ACEC members will receive a $50 discount off the $495 registration fee by indicating on their registration form "ACEC Member $50 Discount."

For more information or to register, download a registration form from ENR’s web site at http://www.enr.com/seminar/2001seminar/ENRConf2001.asp/; call (212) 904-4634; or e-mail Chuck Pinyan at cpinyan@mcgraw-hill.com.

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