Benefits May 5, 2004

U.K. Reward Managers Well Paid

May 5, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - British reward managers are the best paid in the HR field, pulling in 12% more than the profession's average salary, according to a survey.
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The HR poll by Croner Reward in association with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), also turned up a difference in earnings by sector. Private sector HR directors at service firms enjoy a pay premium of 19% over industry average, while their colleagues in manufacturing and public services receive 5% less and those voluntary sector get 13% below the average.

“Reward practitioners are currently engaged in some of the most challenging and exciting aspects of remuneration and recognition, such as pensions and retirement, reward and diversity, and executive remuneration and corporate governance. I am not surprised that they enjoy such a premium,” said Charles Cotton, CIPD reward adviser.

The survey also revealed a gender pay gap among U.K. personnel directors, with male personnel directors earning 22% more than their female counterparts. The report asserted that the equal pay gap is largely because there is a higher proportion of female personnel directors in the public and voluntary sectors and a lower proportion of female personnel directors among the larger, private sector, workers.

The poll also found:

  • While 95% of HR professionals surveyed said their employers offered a pension plan, only 66% offered a defined benefit program, compared with 90% in 1994. By contrast, defined contribution plans have grown from 10% of employers offering such a scheme in 1994 to 34%.
  • Employer contribution rates to defined benefit schemes are typically 13% to 15%, while the normal contribution to a defined contribution scheme is around 5% to 6%.

The research is based on 7,825 HR jobs in over 1,500 organizations from the public, private and voluntary sectors.

For more information, go to http://www.cipd.co.uk .

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