Rising commodity prices, fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, and the spectre of a U.S. recession combined to hand negative first quarter results to the median corporate, public and foundation/endowment plan, according to a survey.
Mercer Consulting’s Summary Performance of U.S. Institutional Portfolios reports that the median corporate plan had a first-quarter loss of 5.5%, while public plans and foundation/endowment funds lost 5.1% and 5.0%, respectively. On a one-year basis, corporate plans had average gains of 0.2%, while public plans and foundation/endowment plans earned 0.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Over a 10-year timeframe, all three plan types have averaged between 6.2% and 7.0% on an annualized basis.
First quarter results were negative for both value and growth managers, with the median large cap value manager outperforming the growth manager by 210 basis points, according to Mercer’s analysis. The median core large cap manager’s performance was 20 basis points below the S&P 500 Index but outperformed the index by 160 basis points on an annualized basis over the last 10 years. The median core large cap manager outperformed its small cap counterpart by 60 basis points over the current quarter, losing 9.6% while the median core small cap manager lost 10.2%.
According to the survey, the international equity asset class, (as represented by the MSCI EAFE Index) lost 8.9%, outperforming the S&P 500 Index by 50 basis points for the quarter and 240 basis points on a one-year basis. Within the international asset class, the median value manager outperformed its growth counterpart by 80 basis points.
Within the fixed-income asset class, the survey reports that the median core fixed income manager underperformed the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index in the first quarter by 70 basis points, and underperformed the index on a one-year basis by 140 basis points. The median manager has slightly outperformed the index by 10 basis points over a 10-year period.
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Working Vacations on the Rise
Getting away from it all is becoming more difficult as a growing number of American workers are allowing work to infringe on their time off, finds a survey.
Careerbuilder.com’s annual vacation survey finds that a quarter of respondents admit to staying in contact with work while on vacation, up from 20% last year. Nine percent say their bosses expect them to be accessible while away, and 15% admit to giving up vacation days because they didn’t have time to use them.
Sales people are by far the most likely to maintain contact with the office from the beach at 50%, while financial services employees and IT workers were next at 37% due in large part to their employers’ expectations. According to the survey, 19% of IT workers say they are expected to work while on vacation, compared to 17% of salespeople, 14% of financial services workers and 12% of those in professional and business services.
In an effort to ensure a blissful getaway, 7% of respondents say they have even resorted to lying about the accessibility of their destination so they can’t be reached.
“Taking a vacation is a great way for workers to re-energize themselves and bring fresh ideas back to the table,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice-president of human resources at CareerBuilder.com. “Unfortunately for some workers, getting away can add unnecessary stress to their lives.” She adds that 12% of workers experience feelings of guilt when they are on vacation and 6% worried that the time off could cost them their job.