HR professionals working in the South can earn up to £40,000 more per year than their counterparts up north, research has revealed.
A survey by recruitment consultancy Hudson Human Resources indicated that an HR director working in professional services can command an annual salary of £95,000 in the South of England, compared with £55,000 in the North.
An HR officer in a professional services organisation based in the North can expect an average annual salary of £18,000, compared with £32,000 in London.
The North-South salary divide continues in the public sector, although to a lesser degree, according to Hudson’s 2007 Salary Survey. An early-career HR officer in the North may expect to take home £22,000 annually, against £26,000 in London and the South, it found.
Mark Carriban, UK director at Hudson, said: “The salary divide does not appear to have increased over the past few years. Our research found that many London HR jobs tend to be City-based, whereas in the North, these jobs are based in smaller towns, which tend to have lower remuneration levels.”
Hudson found that HR directors working in the energy, utilities, logistics, manufacturing and engineering sectors earned an average of £58,000 per year, those in retail, leisure and media £105,000, while HR chiefs in IT/telecoms earned up to £110,000.
