Corporate Magicians
Salaries survey of HR department managers
HR departments are gaining weight within the corporate structure and HR managers are going up in price
A pushy Head of Recruitment candidate who is able to sell anything including her own competence could increase her salary by 63% by moving to a western Pharmaceutical Company. Her extensive work experience was the main argument in negotiations with employer and the personality of the candidate was the main determinative factor. “Our client was ready to pay our candidate 25,000 Rubles a month more than it originally could offer!” – Exclaims Ramis Imangulov, a consultant at Antal International Russia, the largest International Executive Recruitment Company present in Moscow.
Companies have begun to value their employees much more than in the past and now comprehend the importance of their HR departments given the catastrophic candidate shortage we are currently experiencing. And such stories are not longer rarities. “One of the latest trends is the including of the HR Director on the Management Board”. - Comments Elena Birukova, Senior Manager and the Head of HR/FMCG department of Recruitment Company Antal International Russia. “This would have been unheard of a few years ago, and at the same time the HR Director’s function now is more strategic rather than operational and the going salary is close to that of other top-managers”.
Although this is common practice for major western companies, mid-sized businesses are doing their best not to lag behind the multinational giants and are gradually replacing HR administrative personnel by recruiting a professional HR manager. And while this person is more or less responsible for recruitment, training and development, compensation and benefits in small companies, the big businesses attempt to build up different departments, managed by appropriate specialist, each with several subordinates.
According to the gross monthly basic salaries survey of HR department managers, conducted by Antal International Russia, Compensation & Benefits managers cost mote than managers of other branches. “This function started developing only recently”, says Elena Birukova. “There is a lack of candidates with relevant experience on the market and they are valued very highly. If salaries of other HR department employees are rising by 15-20%, the C&B manager’s salaries growth rate is approaching the rates of HR director’s salary growth and is about 30-50%”.
HR professionals can earn the highest salaries in retail, banking, and FMCG manufacturing companies. A bit lower salaries are in Oil & Gas, IT/Telecom, and manufacturing. The lowest salary rate is in B2B and FMCG distribution companies, but it is on an upward curve.
At the same time salaries also depend on origin of a particular organisation. For example, American companies pay more then German ones. Large Russian companies offer HR specialists salaries which are 15% more then in western businesses in average, but sometimes it can be 50% and even 100% more. “Russian market players have to outbid managers with the western working experience to implement progressive HR-technologies”, explains Elena Birukova. “Moreover, if in western businesses there are specific salary grades, whereas in Russian firms the cost of the candidates often depends to what extent the management likes the candidate”.
According to Antal Russia’s prognosis, the demand in Training & Development managers will grow and the salary growth rate will rise with it. “Employees have to have an opportunity to develop and build a career inside the company”, says Elena Birukova. “If the company needs to retain precious professionals it should value his/her potential, plan perspectives and allow opportunity to study, and offer corporate training sessions”.
HR department obtains new functions, for example Knowledge Management – saving and systematization of the company’s knowledge. “KM is not yet separated in a different branch in HR and belongs to Training & Development department”, explains Elena Birukova. “Usually companies attract consulting companies to manage their knowledge, only the big companies with the staff over 3,000 employees can afford hiring such specialist”, adds Irina Timakova, a Principal Consultant at Antal International Russia. “There are few candidates in such positions and consequently their cost is understandably high”.
One more function which evidently will pass from marketing to HR department gradually – is internal communications. “We at Antal Russia get requests for internal communications managers from HR departments increasingly more frequently than from the Marketing Division”, notes Elena Birukova. This is a young and non standard position, and major corporations are the trendsetters now. “This is a peculiar “magician” who appears in a right time to solve conflict situations in employees’ communications”, says Irina Timakova. “He or she cooperates with all HR branches, and is responsible for corporate culture, internal branding, corporate events, employee benefits, different surveys and so on. Their objective is to make the company a good place to work”.
The functionality of HR Departments is getting wider, meaning that human resources will gain weight in the company. Regardless the development of the professional education and the growing of the profession prestige, there still will be a lack of good HR specialists and their cost will rise faster than in other key industry disciplines.