Another revelation from the latest survey revolves around the rewarding of performance. While some participants see no change from last year in terms of compensating top players, profit slips are starting to show, and many expect that their reward criteria will stiffen before the recovery comes to full flower. Questions to this week's survey were formulated with the help of executive search firm Equinox and its Select Leaders Web-based operation, with which GlobeSt.com has recently launched its Employment Center. (To sample the Employment Center, click on: Post a Job.)

In terms of hiring trends, nearly half (46%) of the survey respondents report that they intend to hold to current staffing levels for the next year, while 42% project some sort of expansion. The good news here might be that only 12% predict staff reductions.

Among the two groups that do see staff changes, some 41% say these changes will take place among their operations personnel while 36% see changes happening on the transactional side. Some 23% say the management arena will endure the most personnel shifts.

Regular GlobeSt.com visitors know that senior executives from a variety of major players have been jumping ship for more lucrative opportunities, and that trend is reflected in the 57% of our participants who report that they have endured unexpected departures in the past 12 months. Conversely, 43% say no such upheavals have occurred in their ranks.

On the gain side, only 39% of our participants report making significant hires in the past 12 months while 61% report no such employee gains.

That lack of hiring activity implies a pent-up demand, an implication borne out by 43% of our respondents, who reveal that they have deferred the hiring of key personnel. On the flip side, 57% say they have not experienced that pent-up demand--presumably the result of fewer business opportunities.

But, even how the industry plans to deal with this backlog in demand reveals a lack of confidence that the recovery will happen any time soon. Only 32% of those companies with an outstanding need for new key personnel plan to pull the trigger on those hires this year.

One question in this week's survey was meant to reveal more about the development of real estate firms as corporate entities than anything about the economic slump. Nearly three-quarters of our participants (69%) tell us that hiring these days is a matter relegated to a formal human resources department, governed by an organized hiring policy.

Whether hires take place or not, it is clear that performance-based compensation will be overhauled in these times of sagging profits. Many said that the lagging economy will force them to hold the line on changes in compensation, while others revealed that those same economic conditions will force them to tighten up their rewards. Here are some of their answers:

"We do not see a shift in how we compensate performance-based executives," said one respondent, "but we are being even more specific in establishing the criteria."

"Our compensation will remain consistent with past policies," another writer commented. "However, performance criteria will be upgraded, and those unable to maintain consistent levels of production will likely be replaced."

"Yes," wrote one participant, "criteria will become more rigorous and will be tied to individual goals."

"We will maintain 2001 levels until profitability returns," said another commentator.

One writer, who describes himself as an executive with "a REIT that froze 2001 pay, hiring and title changes," is obviously taking a steely-eyed approach to the lingering recession and its effect on staffing: "When in doubt, terminate."