HR SPECIALISTS, especially those in recruitment and training functions have received solid salary increases over the last twelve months in a trend that researchers tip will continue for some time.
HR SPECIALISTS, especially those in recruitment and training functions, have received solid salary increases over the last 12 months in a trend that researchers tip will continue for some time.
The sixth edition of the Hart Consulting Group/HR Partners salary survey found that HR professionals in these expert areas received higher than average salary increases of between 4 and 5 per cent.
Remuneration and benefits and learning and development (L&D) personnel have also received greater increases, of between 5 and 10 per cent, compared to their generic counterparts.
And HR specialists in these functions are expected to remain popular. Demand will be strong for these personnel in the foreseeable feature, David Owens associate director at Staff & Exec/HR Partners argued. “This is because these areas are not only those that help organisations to attract good people but they also help them retain and develop them as well.”
Seventy-five Australian based organisations of varying sizes and industries were included in the survey, including importers and distributors, manufacturers, banks and airlines.
Two particular job families or sectors – the recruitment and the L&D –emerged as the hot spots for a number of reasons, according to Chris Hart, principal of Hart Consulting Group. “There has been a significant increase in population size in the sample, meaning there’s insourcing rather than outsourcing of those functions and that has some impact on demand, which in turn increases salary levels.”
In addition, stronger demand for personnel HR staff in the $60,000 to $110,000 fixed reward pay range bolstered their salary up between 5 and 10 per cent. This is mainly because of improvements in their own expertise and abilities and worth to their organisations, the survey report suggested.
“It’s an interesting spread of salaries in this range, to a certain extent in what we would call the mid market,” Owens said. “Once someone has done two to three years of HR and related administration and some general support work in some specific areas of HR such as recruitment or policy or performance management they tend to find themselves in that $60,000 plus bracket.”
It is at this level where many HR professionals start to hit their strides. “It’s where the value adding kicks in, where ‘the rubber hits the road’ from the point of view of your applying everything you learnt at university… and you are probably getting more involved in supporting the business more proactively and more holistically,” Owens said.
The number of job vacancies for the $60,000 to $110,000 range is also good news for mid-level HR professionals. “The candidate availability is modest to poor,” Owens said. “You have a situation whereby lots of companies are competing for the same HR talent. And the people in that remuneration range probably have a number of job offers to chose from.”
Under these conditions remuneration becomes a pressure point as candidates look at a number of variables such as the HR leader and the standing of HR within the business before accepting a position, he said.
However, the market has been described as “spotty” in parts, particularly for those in positions earning remuneration below $60,000 such as HR administrators, and over $110,000 such as senior HR managers and directors.
“Those at the upper end of the pay scales tend to be remunerated by incentives… Supply would be out in excess of demand at the moment for the $110,000 plus group. There are less positions available and there are more people going for those roles and there are only so many roles out there. So we don’t see as much pressure on that upper echelon,” Hart said.
Most other positions – HR coordinators, officers, consultants and managers, for example – have not received anything more than the average 4 to 5 per cent pay increase.
