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11
RO INSIGHTS — 2020 US SOLAR SALARY SURVEY US Solar Salary Guide

Transcript of irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com · 2020. 7. 20. · irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com

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RO INSIGHTS — 2020 US SOLAR SALARY SURVEY

R&O Energy

Helping to build tomorrow, today

US SolarSalary GuideHelping to build tomorrow, today

www.wearero.com

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2020 started off with big expectations for Solar Installations, but while a large number

of projects will still go ahead there’s been a delay in the start date for a few. This has

resulted in the loss of 65,000 of the 250,000 people employed within Solar. This,

unfortunately, equates to the industry growth gained over the last five years.

The major positive, though, is that the industry generally views this as a short-term loss

with the expectations being that by the second half of 2020 (Covid restrictions

dependent) we will be back to “business as usual.” The areas that have been hit the

hardest are the Commercial and Residential markets, with Utility Scale Solar slightly

less affected. Conversations with our clients are still suggesting aggressive growth

plans for the industry and we at R&O are certain we’ll see lots of opportunities for hiring

over the coming year.

Renewable energy recruitment partners to clean energy & infrastructure.

Our teams of renewable energy recruitment specialists work in vertical market

sectors, focusing on specific disciplines. Our strength lies in the recruitment

and retention of professional technical engineering and construction

management staff at all levels.

Introduction

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

Brief Summary

About us

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Salary & Benefits

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

713 623 1124 | [email protected]

Utility Scale

We’ve split the first part of our salary research into three key areas: Utility Scale,

Construction and CI/DG (C&I and Distribution Generation).

Segmenting Data

0-2 years

2-4 years

4-6 years

6-8 years

8+

Experience Salary Motivatedby bonus %

Receive bonus inlast 12 months %

% have leadershipresponsibility

$80,000

$95,000

$110,000

$135,000

$155,000

100

100

89

100

81

86

80

59

64

81

57

60

88

66

89

When looking at Utility Scale we uncovered some interesting stats around salary and bonuses. Our findings show that a

massive 94% of those working in Utility Scale, across all experience levels, were motivated by bonus illustrating how

important bonus schemes should be to Utility Scale employers. The number of people motivated by bonus did seem to

fall when Utility Scale professionals got to 8+ years’ experience, but with 81% of even the most senior workers claiming

it was a key motivator, it’s still something that companies should consider having in place.

In comparison to this extremely high percentage of Utility Scale workers who are motivated by bonus, our survey found

that only an average of 74% across all levels of experience actually received a bonus in the last 12 months. When it

came to the group of respondents who had between four and six years of experience, our results showed that just 59%

received a bonus in the last year – that’s a massive difference of 30% when comparing the percentage of those

motivated by bonus (89%) with those who actually benefited from one.

Again, definitely a consideration for companies wanting to attract and retain Utility Scale talent into their business.

When comparing average salaries across the three areas we surveyed, Utility Scale definitely stood out as the

specialism in which the most money can be earned, with both starting salaries and the salaries of those with extensive

experience, being considerably higher than those in both Construction and CI/DG.

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Salary & Benefits

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

Construction

0-2 years

2-4 years

4-6 years

6-8 years

8+

Experience Salary Motivatedby bonus %

Receive bonus inlast 12 months %

% have leadershipresponsibility

-

$74,000

$93,000

$110,000

$130,000

-

80

79

83

86

-

60

50

68

64

-

100

86

84

100

When looking at the results of our salary survey for those working in construction, we found a similar pattern to the

Utility Scale findings, in that the percentages of workers motivated by bonuses, far exceeded the percentage of

workers who received one. In the past 12 months, an average of 48% of Construction professionals received a bonus,

yet 76% stated that a bonus was a motivator for them. When you take into account that over 86% of Construction Solar

specialists reported having leadership responsibility, it could perhaps be expected that bonus, in return for the

additional responsibility, would be more commonplace as a benefit offered by employers.

Interestingly, the percentage of those motivated by bonus increased almost incrementally with the amount of

experience a worker had, with the group most motivated by bonus being those with 8+ years’ experience. This is

opposed to the statistics we gained from Utility Scale professionals, where there was greater interest in bonus in the

groups with less experience.

Overall, bonus appears less important to the Construction sector than the Utility Scale sector, with motivation figures

and the number of workers receiving bonus being considerably less in Utility Scale.

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Salary & Benefits

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

CI/DG

0-2 years

2-4 years

4-6 years

6-8 years

8+

Experience Salary Motivatedby bonus %

Receive bonus inlast 12 months %

% have leadershipresponsibility

$69,000

$75,000

$90,000

$105,000

$130,000

31

72

78

100

89

36

72

54

40

58

28

53

62

60

89

Average salaries in the CI/DG group surveyed were not dissimilar to those reported by the Construction group.

When looking once more at bonuses, an average of 74% across all experience levels stated that they were motivated by

bonus. There were some differences however, across the different levels of experience with a relatively low percentage

(just 31%) of those with 0-2 years’ experience stating they were motivated by bonus – that’s in comparison to a massive

100% of those with between six and eight years’ experience.

As may be expected, the leadership responsibility for this group increased incrementally with the number of years of

experience.

The Solar industry has been tackling gender diversity head on and is actively trying to

recruit females especially into Senior positions. One strategy successfully introduced by

many Solar companies is to encourage entry-level females into a market that has

historically been dominated by men. The success of these initiatives can be seen by the 6%

gender pay gap reported in our Solar Salary Guide and is considerably lower than the

national average of 18.9% reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics*.

*https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/women-had-higher-median-earnings-than-men-in-relatively-few-occupations-in-2018.htm

Gender Pay Gap

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1

401 (k)

4 5

Benefits SpotlightTop 5 benefits that are most important to candidates

As well as looking at salaries and bonuses, we were keen to uncover which other benefits are of importance to

our three surveyed groups of Solar professionals.

The results illustrated that there were five benefits of the highest importance to candidates; these have been

included in order of importance in the graphic above.

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

1

Health Insurance

2

Flexible Working

3

Compensation

Culture/WorkEnvironment

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Health Insurance

401(k)

Working from Home

Flexible Working

Per diem coverage

Car Allowance

Training Coverage

Gym Membership

Enhanced Pension Contributions

Additional PTO

Benefits SpotlightTop benefits reported as most commonly offered to our respondents

In comparison, we have included a table of those benefits reported as most commonly offered to our

respondents. These are listed in the table below – the top five have been highlighted in green.

% Offered Benefit

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

Benefit

88%

76%

54%

52%

41%

31%

26%

15%

12%

11%

At first glance, the results are pleasing in that the most sought-after benefit, Health Insurance, was the most commonly

offered benefit for a huge 88% of respondents. It’s also positive to see that flexible working and 401(k) which are both

listed in the top five most important benefits, feature in the top five most commonly offered benefits too. If your

organization isn’t offering these top five benefits as standard, it may be worth making sure you’re staying competitive

by adjusting your offerings to match.

Differences to note, however, include company culture, which is listed as a sought-after benefit, but doesn’t appear as

an offered benefit at all. Could companies be missing a trick here by not highlighting their culture as a benefit to

prospective employees?

Although we’ve concentrated on the top five benefits, we’ve included a longer list of benefits offered, for information.

As can be seen from the table, items like a car allowance, training and gym memberships all feature. However, these all

come with a cost. In short, if your culture is a selling point, why not include it as a benefit? It can be considerably

cheaper to companies than some other benefits, but our findings show that it’s important and of value to candidates. It

could just make you an employer of choice for Solar talent looking for their next role.

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0-2 years

2-4 years

4-6 years

6-8 years

8+

Benefits SpotlightTop benefit that is missing from packages

We further wanted to learn more about which benefits Solar candidates feel are often missing from their

packages. We’ve listed the most popular missing benefits, alongside experience levels in the table below.

Most Popular Missing Benefit

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

Experience

Increased Salary

More Vacation / PTO

Increased Salary

More Vacation / PTO

Overall Compensation and 401(k)

The most common two missing benefits were increased salary and PTO (Paid Time Off)/vacation. The only group who

didn’t state one of these as the top missing benefit was those having worked in Solar for 8+ years. Perhaps this is owing

to people of this level automatically earning more and accumulating more holiday allowance due to their time in the

sector.

Our figures suggest however, that employers should seek to include competitive rates of pay and vacation allowance,

to attract the best Solar talent to their organization. They’re of real importance to those working in the sector and are

often missed by employers.

Paid Time Off (PTO)

Distribution Generation and C&I

Utility Scale

Construction

Average days PTOVertical

19

15

14

Through analyzing the results of our Salary Survey, we found that the average PTO offered across all experience levels

is 15 days. Coming in at slightly above the average are DG/CI roles which, according to our findings, receive 19 days of

PTO. Construction receive the least PTO at 14 days.

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Remote WorkingHow many remote working days our respondents reported they receive per week

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

The results of our survey showed that 67% of the Solar industry is offered some remote working options – a pleasing

outcome given that remote/flexible working options feature highly on the list of benefits most sought by workers.

However, this still leaves a significant 33% of Solar professionals who don’t partake in any remote working at all.

The most common remote working option was reported as 3+ days but could be reflective of stay at home roles.

Remote Working by years of experience

As may be expected, the above table showing remote working by years of experience shows that those who are just

entering the industry don’t often participate in remote working. Instead, it’s more commonly found to be a benefit

offered as experience levels increase.

For a benefit listed as one of the most five important to Solar professionals, regular remote working appears to be still

somewhat sporadic across the board.

1

2

3+

I do not work

remotely

Days workingremotely a week

% Of respondents % In leadership positions

23

10

34

33

27

50

29

23

0-2 Years(%)

23

8

15

54

1

2

3+

I do not work

remotely

Days workingremotely a week

2-4 Years(%)

23

4

32

41

4-6 Years(%)

30

8

35

27

6-8 Years(%)

17

11

22

50

8+ Years(%)

20

14

44

22

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Remote WorkingFurther insights into Remote Working

R&O Insights

Helping to build tomorrow, today

Perhaps surprisingly, we uncovered that those on higher salaries, also seem to receive a better overall package that

includes the ability to work from home. It could be expected that remote working options may equate to a reduction in

salary, but for the Solar industry, this is not the case. As experience levels and seniority rise, so too does salary (average

of 10% higher basic), and the likelihood of regularly working from home.

Remote Working and the effect on salaries

Less than 5 years

More than 5 years

Years ofexperience

Average salary with noworking from home option

$73,500

$110,000

Average salary with aworking from home option

$80,000

$112,000

When looking at how important remote working is to those in the Solar industry, 75% of people who feel it’s important

are offered it. This suggests that Solar is an industry where remote working is provided if it's of value to you. Our advice

therefore, is for candidates to ask for it if it’s wanted, and for employees to offer it should employees request it – it’s

likely commonplace for your competitors, so you’re missing a trick in attracting/retaining Solar talent (particularly

those with experience) if you don’t.

With that in mind, there are still 25% of those surveyed who don’t see working from home as an important benefit, so

employers shouldn’t assume it’s an important benefit for all. This is where tailoring benefits packages based on

employees’ differing priorities (such as family/social factors/location) can be advantageous, if and where possible.

The importance of Remote Working to our respondents

remote working is

important

remote working is

not important

Opinion on remoteworking

% Do not work remotely

25

59

% Work remotely

75

41

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From a single contingent hire to a retained

department build, we’ve dedicated contract and

permanent recruitment experts who work with

companies from rising start-ups to established

enterprises.

With a philosophy based around relationships and

trust, contact us directly to share your recruitment

requirements.

Let's WorkTogether

[email protected]

713 623 1124

www.wearero.com