Workplace News Round-Up

Here are a few workplace headlines catching my eye today:

60% of companies surveyed in a new study say employees are keeping their 401(k) contribution levels steady;

Being unemployed is too embarrassing to share with the neighbors for many white collar professionals;

Are old-fashioned travel agents back in vogue?;

Pay raises are at their lowest since Hewitt Associates started tracking them in 1976. Bonuses are where it's at;

8% of companies in a new Proofpoint survey say they have fired an employee for leaking company information over a social networking site;

Are employees confident the economy is getting better? Not so much;

55% of executives think the recession still has more than a year to go, according to a new Greenwich Associates survey;

Employers share the 20 strangest employee complaints in a new Careerbuilder survey. My favorite? The complaint about a worker who wants to check a co-worker for ticks. The list had me laughing.