According to a recent salary survey on human resources (HR) conducted by Antal Russia, the average level of remuneration for HR managers is the same as it was before the downturn. What has changed however, is stricter limits on budgets for HR in general and recruitment in particular, and when offers are made to recruit they are not as flexible as they used to be.
“Employers try to hold out for salaries more favourable to them over the potential employee”, says Elena Birukova, the Head of HR Department at Antal Russia. “If a candidate is not currently working or is in a precarious position in their current job, then potential employer do try to reduce the offer to as low as they can get away with. With plenty of candidates available on the market, offers to potential employees end to be lower than the current market average for established positions. For example, a good recruitment manager who once would have secured on offer of around 150 000 RUR a month, is now likely to be approached at more like 120 000 RUR. However employers do realize that by this drive for lower salaries runs the risk of alienating the employee, who may well leave company a short time after, having been able to find a job with the salary which will really satisfy them”.
The days of successful HR managers doubling their income by moving role – as it was before the downturn – are now long gone. However high calibre candidates would still expect a salary increase of 15 to 20% – in preference to an enhanced benefits package – to move. As a result therefore benefits packages are not as lucrative – the company car may be of a lower class, lunch and fitness allowances abolished, and the level of medical insurance and insurance for relatives reduced.
The highest salaries for HR professionals and managers are in industries as pharmaceutical, FMCG, food, alcohol and tobacco. Meanwhile B2B sector salaries traditionally remain low. Typically it is German and French companies that try to hire new employees on the tightest budgets and offers possible.
In demand at the moment are strong HR directors with change management experience. “We are finding that we are now often instructed with confidential assignments to replace HR directors”, comments Elena Birukova. “We tend to find relevant people in companies that have recently been through an M&A process”.
“Candidates with good experience of change management are valued higher at the moment than those with more process driven expertise,” says Evgeny Laptev, principal consultant at Antal Russia HR department. “The difference in income can be around 30 to 50%. If a company has to replace an employee of this nature, it usually will have to pay an uplift of 20 to 30% of the salary the leaver was on”.
Demand in Compensations and Benefits Managers is also growing, but is suffering for the lack of really experienced professionals on the market. “While the young generation adopts the best practice of big international companies gradually, the amount of candidates in these positions has not grown dramatically,” comments Elena Birukova. “For them assessment of work is becoming more complicated: they have to review social packages, bonus schemes and benefits for different categories of employees, keeping up effectively”.
Big international companies have shifted to a progressive model of HR Business Partnership making them responsible for HR management in one of the key business unit (sales and marketing, logistics, IT, legal etc.). People with experience of positions such as HR Generalist and HR Manager can apply to these types of rolls. Salaries of these professionals usually tend to be on equal terms.
Likewise still in demand are Training and Development (T&D) Managers, especially those able to build up the training and development function within a company on a strict budget and without the help of external providers. “If a company already had a knowledge management function related to T&D set up before the downturn, then they are still going. However we have no assignments since the downturn for any such roles”, says Elena Birukova.
In more general terms, the number of opportunities for recruitment managers and heads of recruitment have also increased, mostly for western companies. Internal communications managers are still in demand to join HR departments, driven again in part by vacancies open in the big western companies.
The level of remuneration for HR managers often depends on how much the person fits the corporate culture, while supporting and developing it. Elena Birukova explains: “An employer would now rather a hire the candidate on the strength a good fit with the company over say some skills or experience – while taking into account their readiness to be flexible on salary”.
