PAY SURVEY 2012

Top tips for salary negotiation

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When negotiating salary with a prospective new employer, it’s really important to get the conversation right. Lots of us lack confidence and don’t know how best to approach the topic. It’s

not embarrassing; in fact, it’s a normal part of business and a key part of setting the tone between you and your employer.

If possible, wait for a figure to be put to you rather than telling the interviewer what you’re looking for. If you have to quote a figure, make

sure you’ve given it some thought before the interview. You are negotiat-ing and the salary you finally agree is unlikely to be the first figure you mention. So set your starting point in the knowledge that you’re likely to settle on a lower figure in the end.

Above all, the most important thing is to agree a figure you’re happy with. If you follow the tips below, you should ensure you get the right offer, whoever starts the negotiation.

Know your value — Make sure you know what you want to be paid. You must know your target salary and what you would accept. This is a negotiation and you may not achieve your ideal salary but if you don’t know what you need, how can you make sure you get the right offer?

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research — If you don’t do your research, how will you know if you’re getting a competitive offer? What’s the salary range? What have they offered in the past? What’s the market rate for a similar role?

Keep the upper hand — Make sure the interviewer knows you have options. If they are competing with another employer, there’s much more chance they’ll make the right offer and move quickly, so they don’t lose you.

looK at the pacKage as a whole — Make sure you look beyond the basic salary and factor in everything that’s important to you, such as car allowance, pension, bonus, profit share, holidays, flexible working, support for training and future career opportunities.

don’t be afraid to practise — Find someone to play the part of the employer and encourage them to ask tough, probing questions.

In summary: if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Be confident. Know your worth. Be realistic. The negotiation will have gone well if both sides come away smiling. It’s a great way to start your working relationship.

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Pay hits a higher note

Key findings■■ The median annual salary for the benchmark post of a full-time health

and safety manager across the economy as a whole is in a range between £40,000 and £42,499, compared to a figure within the £37,500 to £39,999 bracket this time last year.

■■ All things being equal, the larger the organisation, the higher the salary a health and safety professional can expect to receive.

■■ The proportion of participants subject to a pay cut or freeze over the past 12 months has remained more or less static since our last survey.

■■ Median full-time salaries for health and safety managers working in utilities tend to be the highest, with those in the public sector and manufacturing among the ones at the bottom of the pile.

■■ Despite continued concerns about the state of the economy, a clear majority of practitioners feel secure in their current employment, with little difference in sentiment between those working in the private sector and their public sector counterparts.

■■ Full-time male health and safety practitioners continue to receive a substantially higher like-for-like salary than their female colleagues.

■■ Three-quarters of respondents say they are either “happy” or “very happy” in their current role, with no discernable difference between the views of those working in the private and public sectors.

Welcome to the seventh annual survey of health and safety practitioners’ remuneration and conditions from HSW magazine, and the fifth conducted in conjunction with specialist recruiter Attwood Burton

SInce our last annual review of the pay and conditions of health and safety practitioners,

the economy has yet to embark on a sustained recovery, with uncertainty at home and abroad creating a gloomy backdrop. But despite the undoubted pressures on the profession, a total of 844 practitioners have taken the trouble to respond to hSW’s 2012 online sur-vey, the results of which we present in this supplement.

As ever, the whole range of job roles is covered — from administra-tive assistant to director of health and safety — in small, medium and large organisations, across a full array of industries in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

The research, conducted last autumn, covers the 12-month period to the end of September 2012. Details of the survey sample are on page VIII.

Salary levelsWe ASKeD survey respond-ents to identify their current annual salary by placing it

within one of 19 bands, each rising in steps of £2500. Participants were also able to state whether they were paid less than £20,000, or more than £79,999, and were asked to identify the job title that most accurately reflects their role from a pre-set list of 12.

Taking the sample as a whole, 4% of all full-time workers receive an an-nual salary below £20,000, with private sector workers marginally more likely to be paid at this relatively low level than their public sector counterparts. It is no surprise that administrators, advisers and assistants tend to be concentrated towards the bottom of the spectrum, though three full-time health and safety managers say they are paid less than £20,000 a year — one in financial services, one in construction and the other in the hotels and catering sector.

At the top of the wages pile are those full-time respondents earning an annual wage in excess of £79,999

— a salary received by 5% of those polled. One in three workers in hSW’s “top earners” bracket is a freelancer or contractor.

all about the money?Intriguingly, seven full-time employees paid less than £20,000 a year told hSW they are “very happy” in their current role, while two workers paid at or above

£80,000 (both directors of health and safety) say they are currently “very unhappy” — perhaps bearing out the old adage that money isn’t everything.

Across the entire sample and across all jobs, the median (mid-point) full-time salary is between £35,000 and £37,499, compared to £32,500 and £34,999 at the time of our 2011 survey.

The lower quartile (the point at or below which the lowest 25% of sala-ries is located) is within a pay bracket between £27,500 and £29,999. con-versely, the upper quartile (the point at or above which the top 25% of salaries can be found) is within a band between £45,000 and £47,499.

Given a fair wind, most workers expect to receive a pay rise at least annually. But in these tough economic times, perhaps such an improvement should not be taken for granted.

hSW’s headline measure of whole-economy salary awards is given by the median increase in basic pay. As set out in Figure 1, over the 12 months to the end of the survey period, the mid-point salary increase among all survey participants, bar freelancers and contractors, was 1% (zero at the lower quartile and 3% at the upper quartile) — exactly the same as in 2011.

To put this into context, the median whole economy basic pay award over the 12 months to the end of Octo-ber 2012, according to pay analysts XperthR, was 2.5%.

In 2011, we found a marked de-cline in the proportion of health and safety professionals suffering either a reduction in wages or a salary freeze compared to 2010. The percentage of employees subject to a pay cut or a standstill in 2012 is broadly similar to a year ago, though this still means that more than two-fifths of survey respondents have either had their pay frozen or reduced.

A separate analysis of the wage awards received by freelancers and contractors in 2012 produces a median of zero, suggesting they are perhaps wary of putting up fees in an uncertain economic climate.

figure 1: 2012 pay rises (%)

“Until health and safety is truly integrated into other management functions, it will continue [as] the ‘poor

relation’ with regards to salaries and benefits” A survey respondent

1% rise

Pay cut

Pay freeze

4% rise

2% rise

3% rise

5% rise

6–10% rise

>10% rise

“it’s disappointing that health and safety

practitioners have received a lower salary increase

than the UK average”

Mark Burton, director, Attwood Burton

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figure 3: pay satisfaction levels

are you paid enough?Figure 2 presents an analysis of the full-time salaries for employees working in a range of common health and safety roles.

The median whole economy salary for the benchmark position of health and safety manager is within a band of £40,000 and £42,499, compared to a salary between £37,500 and £39,999 in 2011.

The median whole-sample salary attached to the full-time position of a health and safety of-ficer is found somewhere in a range between £27,500 and £29,999 a year, while a head of health and safety can expect to receive an annual salary of between £55,000 and £57,499. Our separate analysis of rates paid to freelancers and

contractors gives a median annual base salary of between £45,000 and £47,499, putting them second only to heads of health and safety in the pay stakes.

hSW also asked survey par-ticipants whether they are paid enough; their answers are sum-marised in Figure 3. Within this, perceptions are interesting; while almost half (48%) of health and safety professionals in the private sector say their pay is sufficient, bearing in mind their roles and responsibilities, in the public sector this figure falls to just 35%.

Similarly, almost two-thirds (64%) of public sector practitioners think they are paid less than they are worth; this falls to 50% in the private sector.

“Health and safety continues to be undervalued in times of economic difficulty. it is still seen largely as a support service, rather than an integrated part of the business, thus it takes a hit when times are hard”A survey respondent

Job function Whole economy (£pa) Private sector (£pa) Public sector (£pa)

Health and safety officer £27,500–£29,999 £27,500–£29,999 £27,500–£29,999

Health and safety adviser £30,000–£32,499 £32,500–£34,999 £30,000–£32,499

Health and safety consultant

£35,000–£37,499 £35,000–£37,499 —

Health and safety manager

£40,000–£42,499 £40,000–£42,499 £37,500–£39,999

Head of health and safety £55,000–£57,499 £55,00–£57,499 —

figure 2: Median annual full-time salary bandings by job function

Overpaid

Underpaid

Sufficiently paid

“The gap between public sector (35%) and private sector (48%) employees who think they are paid enough is a stark one. Are factors like job security and pension being factored in?” Alistair Attwood, director, Attwood Burton

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Workplace factorsALL things being equal, the larger an organisation in terms of workforce size, the higher

the basic salary a survey participant can expect to receive. So, within an

organisation employing between and one and 49 people, the median annual salary for a full-time health and safety professional across all job roles is between £30,000 and £32,499, while the median annual salary where em-ployee numbers exceed 1000 is be-tween £40,000 and £42,499.

There is a similar story when it comes to the number of health and safety staff that participants are responsible for managing. At the mid-point, the annual salary for someone with sole responsibility for the function

is in the £32,500 to £34,499 bracket. But where there are between 11 and 50 health and safety professionals report-ing to the respondent, the median sal-ary is between £45,000 and £47,499.

Budgets also seem to have an influence on pay. For a full-time par-ticipant with no allocated health and safety budget, the median annual sal-ary is between £32,500 and £34,499.

At the opposite end, where a re-spondent manages a budget in excess of £100,000 a year, the basic salary is between £42,500 and £44,499.

These findings are to be expected, as the greater responsibility, the more senior the employee is likely to be and so the higher the salary they can expect to receive.

location, locationIt’s no surprise there are pronounced regional salary variations (see Figure 4). Across the sample as a whole, those working overseas can expect to receive a median annual basic sal-ary of between £50,000 and £52,499 — this relatively generous pay level possibly includes an element to com-pensate for working abroad.

Within the UK, the South east and the east Midlands tend to attract the highest median salaries (within a range between £37,500 and £39,999), with the lowest found in Wales (be-tween £30,000 and £32,499). As well as marked regional salary variations, differences are also evident when com-paring rates broken down by industrial sector, as Figure 5 indicates.

As in 2011, health and safety managers in the electricity, gas and water sectors top the pay stakes, with a median annual salary of between £45,000 and £47,999, followed by construction (£42,500 to £44,999) and general services (£40,000 to £42,499).

Transport and logistics; retail and wholesale; manufacturing; and the public sector are at the lower end of the pay spectrum.

Region Median annual salary band (£pa)

Overseas £50,000–£52,499

South east £37,500–£39,999

east Midlands £37,500–£39,999

north West £35,000–£37,499

South West £35,000–£37,499

Scotland £35,000–£37,499

north east £32,500–£34,999

West Midlands £32,500–£34,999

Wales £30,000–£32,499

Industry Health and safety manager (£pa)

Utilities £45,000–£47,499

construction £42,500–£44,999

General services £40,000–£42,499

Transport and logistics £37,500–£39,999

Retail and wholesale £37,500–£39,999

Manufacturing £37,500–£39,999

Public sector £37,500–£39,999

* For full-time employees

figure 4: regional median salary bandings for all full-time health and safety professionals figure 5: Median annual salary bandings

by industry (health and safety managers)*

“due to the lack of opportunities in the north West, positions are difficult to find. i now have more responsibilities and i’m working for

intolerant managers — all for lower pay”A survey respondent

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Reward and benefitsBASIc pay is just one element of an employee’s overall re-muneration. Organisations

offer staff a variety of benefits in addi-tion to their salary, with some perks undoubtedly more desirable than oth-ers. As hSW has done in previous years, we asked participants whether or not they receive any of the most common fringe benefits.

Almost two-fifths (38.9%) of re-spondents receive an annual bonus of some kind, with such payments more than twice as likely in the private sector than in the public sector. More than a third of all respondents have private health insurance (again this being more common in the private sector) and a shade over a quarter of all participants are provided with a company car.

The percentage of employees with access to a final salary pension scheme has remained fairly constant over the past year at just over a fifth of respondents, though money purchase schemes are now more prevalent among health and safety professionals than they were in 2011.

The latest Annual Survey of hours and earnings, published by the Office for national Statistics (OnS), found

that, on provisional estimates, the full-time median whole-economy gen-der pay gap in favour of men is 10.5%. This broad brush figure, however, masks some interesting variations, not least in the disparity between the earnings of male and female health and safety professionals.

the battle of the sexesBased on the latest figures available from the OnS, in 2011 the whole economy median gross weekly pay of a full-time health and safety officer was £608 (£620.90 at the mean aver-age). On the same basis, a man was paid £673 (£693.60), while a woman received just £508.50 (£587.50) — a headline gap of almost 25%.

This disparity is confirmed by hSW’s analysis; our 2012 survey elicited responses from 654 men and 190 women. Taking the same role — a full-time health and safety officer — the median annual salary across the whole sample fell within a band between £27,500 and £29,999. Though this figure was the same as that paid to men, women received a median salary somewhere between £25,000 and £27,499. A similar picture also emerges for health and safety

managers, according to our data. The median whole-economy salary for a full-time employee occupying this posi-tion was in a range between £40,000 and £42,999. For a man, it also ranged from £40,000 to £42,499. however, on a like-for-like basis, it was between £37,500 and £39,999 for a woman.

get qualifiedOur analysis shows that in general the better qualified a health and safety professional is, the higher the pay they can expect to receive (see Figure 6). Participants holding an MSc can look forward to a median full-time salary of between £45,000 and £47,499 a year. Those whose highest qualification is a neBOSh certificate are paid some-where between £27,500 and £29,999.

As in 2011, however, there are some exceptions. holders of an nVQ level 4 qualification are paid a median salary above that received by a degree holder. This may be explained — at least in part — by the fact that the degree route into the health and safety profession has been available for a relatively short period of time com-pared to other pathways. Less than 2% of respondents have no formal health and safety qualification.

Qualification Median annual salary band (£pa)

MSc £45,000–£47,499

Postgraduate Diploma £42,500–£44,999

nVQ level 4 £37,500–£39,999

neBOSh Diploma (including neBOSh Diploma in environmental Management)

£35,000–£37,499

Degree £35,000–£37,499

neBOSh construction certificate £32,500–£34,999

neBOSh certificate £27,500–£29,999

* For full-time employees

figure 6: Median salary bandings by highest qualification*

“Health and safety professionals are rightly rewarded as they advance their knowledge via academic qualifications”Mark Burton, director, Attwood Burton

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our 2012 survey sampleOUR analysis, carried out by pay expert Adam Geldman, is based on information from an

online questionnaire conducted during autumn 2012. Responses were re-ceived from 797 UK-based health and safety professionals, together with 47

working overseas, giving a total of 844. The number of respondents is down on the 1233 received this time last year. More than a fifth of participants are based in the South east of england (22.2%), and the north West accounted for 12.9% of respondents. The private

sector makes up almost three quarters (74%) of responses, with a shade over a fifth (22%) from the public sector. The remaining returns were sent in by health and safety specialists working for not-for-profit organisations, such as charities.

500–999

1000 plus

100–249

250–499

1–49

50–99

Hotels, restaurants and leisure

Manufacturing

Financial services

General services (law, facilities management, property management, management consultancy)

Public sector (including defence, education, health and social work, central and local government)Transport and logistics

Utilities (electricity, gas and water)

Wholesale/retail trade and logistics

Mining and quarrying

Agriculture (hunting, forestry, �shing)

Construction

Male

Female

Respondents were also asked to indicate the size of their organisation. There is an interesting divide; the majority work for companies with more than 1000 employees (38%), while almost the same number work for SMes (37%).

Breakdown by gender

distribution of respondents

read moreMore information on this year’s survey, including a breakdown of employees’ benefits and some candid observations from respondents, is available online at www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/pay-survey-2012

You can also compare the 2012 results to a full analysis of the previous year’s pay survey, which is available online at www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/pay-survey-2011

number of employees

Industrial sector

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