HR
directors are earning greater rewards as companies realise they play an
increasingly key strategic role in
achieving business aims.
This
is the view of the CIPD in light of a survey by the Reward Group, which shows
heads of personnel are now being paid more than the average company director.
This
year’s survey of pay and benefits for personnel professionals reveals that at
£56,757 average pay for personnel directors is 3.2 per cent above the average
for other directors.
The
results show HR directors have now overtaken their contemporaries on the pay
scale.
Nick
Page, CIPD adviser on pay and employment conditions, commented, “These figures
suggest personnel directors are highly valued by their organisations. It
reflects a change in views from one of personnel management being mainly
administrative to being viewed as one of people management – a key strategic
role.”
The
survey’s findings also reveal that the pay gap between male and female
personnel professionals has virtually disappeared at all levels except director
level where the differential has increased to 17.7 per cent. This figure has
risen from 2.5 per cent in 1998 to 12.1 per cent in 1999.
Steve
Flather, managing director for the Reward Group, added, “These results are
disappointing, the personnel profession should be taking the lead in closing
the equal pay gap at all levels. Unfortunately this expanding gap is the result
of more women reaching director level than ever before but not being rewarded
as a male counterpart may have been.”
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By
Ben Willmott
