HR directors in the UK are the highest paid in Europe, claims research by HR
consultants Towers Perrin.
The study claims that the average basic salary for a HR director working in
Britain is £110,946 – a year-on-year rise of nearly £7,000. When bonuses and
share options are taken into consideration, the annual pay package rises to
£217,570 a year on average.
The Worldwide Total Remuneration Survey shows that Belgium comes next with a
total package worth £210,365. However, surprisingly, HR directors are valued a
lot less by employers in France and Germany with average remuneration deals of
£148,210 and £156,688 per year respectively.
Damien Carnell, principal of the executive compensation unit at Towers
Perrin, said, "UK companies value HR more than their European
counterparts. The pay results of the survey do not surprise me as HR thinking
is not as advanced in Europe. They do not see the results an engaged and
committed workforce can bring."
But European pay scales in HR lag behind those in the US. HR directors in
the US receive the largest total remuneration in the world at an average of
£313,751, and a basic salary of £125,742. Long-term incentives are better in
the US with share options averaging £81,732.
"In the US, they have a high- pay, high-performance culture and are
quick to restructure organisations and move people on if their performance is
not good enough – it is why they have the highest productivity in the
world," said Carnell.
Consultants Towers Perrin used HR salary data from 26 different countries.
By Paul Nelson
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