Fidelity Investments Introduces New Web-Based Compensation Planning Service.

Business/Technology Editors

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2001

As millions of managers and employees turn to the Internet to manage their 401(k) accounts and human resources and payroll information, Fidelity Investments(R) today announced Compensation Planner, a new Web-based cyclical compensation planning service that provides managers the data and planning tools they need to make better-informed compensation decisions.

This summer, Fidelity will be rolling out Fidelity Compensation Planner(TM) to its HR/Payroll outsourcing clients, including HUGHES/DIRECTV, El Segundo, Calif.

Fidelity Compensation Planner is designed to make planning time more productive for those who manage and approve compensation decisions during salary and variable pay cycles. Since Fidelity Compensation Planner allows for employee compensation data and recommendations to be submitted and approved online, it greatly reduces the time associated with the traditional labor-intensive paper or spreadsheet-based planning cycles in which approvals are typically reached many weeks after the original compensation recommendations were submitted.

"As millions of Americans use the Web to manage their 401(k) and brokerage accounts, there is now strong interest among managers to leverage the Web for their HR and payroll information," said Clare Richer, executive vice president, Fidelity Employer Services Company LLC. "We expect this interest to grow exponentially over the next few years and it will be the Web-based HR and payroll tools, such as Fidelity Compensation Planner, that will enable managers and employees to easily navigate their way through some of the most complex HR and payroll tasks."

"It is no longer just about strengthening administrative processes, it is about providing employees with the direct access to information, transactional simplicity and decision-making support they need to make better compensation and other HR-related decisions across the organization," Richer said.

Fidelity has been providing human resources administration and payroll services since 1996 and currently serves more than 65 companies, representing more than 120,000 employees. Fidelity's HR/Payroll outsourcing service allows human resource executives to play a more strategic role within their organizations by alleviating the administrative burden of complicated and time-consuming tasks such as new hire and separation processing, payroll calculations, tax filing, compliance and reporting.

Fidelity Compensation Planner is the latest addition to Fidelity's Web-based HR/payroll tool set called, Fidelity eWorkplace(SM), a suite of integrated, employee and manager self-service tools. eWorkplace services enable users to resolve issues, make informed decisions, and process HR and payroll changes through a single Web interface.

Components of Fidelity eWorkplace empower managers and employees to become more self-sufficient while enabling them to manage their employee data, HR transactions and reporting needs in a paperless environment.

With Fidelity Compensation Planner, managers have access to relevant current and historical information on performance and compensation for all of their direct reports, as well as the corporate guidelines necessary to guide their planning decisions. The data is integrated with the client's core HR management system (HRMS), ensuring that managers and supervisors are working off the most updated and accurate information available.

A key feature of Fidelity Compensation Planner is its ability to automatically roll-up manager recommendations within an organization for review and approval. This automatic routing feature reduces bottlenecks and improves the efficiency in the planning process by sending consolidated employee compensation data to the appropriate senior manager in the least amount of time. Other key features include:

-- Analytic tools to help align decisions with larger work group, divisional, or corporate goals.

-- Integrated decision support features including sorting, modeling, graphical analysis, and reporting capabilities.

-- Dynamic budget summaries and context-sensitive online help.

Over the past eight years, Fidelity Employer Services Company LLC has been building its human resources and benefits outsourcing capabilities and today provides administration services to approximately 150 HR/payroll, defined benefit, health and welfare programs, including medical, dental and vision benefits, flexible spending accounts and life insurance for large employers. Fidelity also provides defined contribution retirement plan services to more than 23,000 corporations and tax-exempt organizations. The company's leading web-based technology and integrated data and servicing approach helps employees gain access to the information they need for informed decision making.

Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services with custodied assets of $1.5 trillion, including managed assets of $914.2 billion. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement, brokerage and shareholder services to 17 million individuals and institutions as well as through 5,500 financial intermediaries. The firm is the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, one of the largest mutual fund supermarkets and a leading online brokerage firm. Fidelity Investments' Web site is at www.fidelity.com.

Fidelity Employer Services Company

a division of Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc.