Highest increases in labour relations, legal and health-care
Human resources professionals in the United States have seen salary and total cash compensation rise an average of 3.2 per cent since 2008, according to a recent survey by Watson Wyatt Data Services, a subsidiary of Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
HR people in the labour relations and legal function saw the highest salary increase, at 3.4 per cent, and the highest increase to total cash compensation, at 4.7 per cent, found the survey of 1,641 organizations.
On the other hand, those in the international function experienced the lowest average salary increase, at 2.5 per cent, and the lowest average increase to total cash compensation, at 0.2 per cent.
There were slight variations among industry sectors, as the highest increase to salaries, 3.6 per cent, was reported in the health-care sector, while the lowest increase, 2.9 per cent, was reported in non-durable goods manufacturing, services and banking and finance. But there were greater differences among the industry sectors when it came to total cash compensation, found the 2009/2010 Survey Report on Human Resources Personnel Compensation. The highest increase was seen in the utilities and energy sector, at 5.6 per cent, while the lowest increase was seen in the retail and wholesale trade, at 2.2 per cent.
With regard to HR positions, five received increases to total cash compensation of at least 5.5 per cent: executive compensation manager, HR information systems supervisor, labour relations representative, recruiting assistant, and top corporate compensation and benefits executive.
The percentage of HR professionals receiving a short-term incentive award varied somewhat among salary levels, ranging from a high of 69.6 per cent of incumbents earning US$200,000 or more to a low of 23.7 per cent of incumbents earning less than US$30,000. HR professionals earning US$200,000 or more received bonus or other cash compensation payments of 42.8 per cent while those earning less than US$30,000 received short-term incentive payments averaging 4.3 per cent.
