For most of the 10,243 employees from the 105 housing associations surveyed, location makes a big difference to earning power. Junior managers in central London, for example, earn 26% more than their counterparts in the north of England (see average salaries table, below). However, location has little impact on salary levels for the top jobs 鈥� for directors, organisation size is the main factor.
Highly skilled professionals are crossing between the public and private sectors at an unprecedented rate, which means housing associations and private companies are competing in the same recruitment market. "A listed company in Liverpool would pay its chief executive the same amount as it would if it were based in Docklands," says Terrie Hughes of Inbucon, the research firm that carried out the survey.
"We're all subject to the same market forces, we're all competing for the best people we can get," says James Ray, head of corporate communications at Anchor Trust. He says that when Anchor needed a new director of information services, "we didn't just go trawling around RSLs looking for people who know about IT". They ended X X up recruiting someone from Boots. But people cross the public-private sector line in both directions 鈥� a car rental company lured away the finance director of one of the largest housing associations in the West Midlands by offering to double his salary.
Competition with private companies explains why salaries are rising faster for senior managers than for the staff working under them. "It is one of those rules of thumb: whenever you get a salary survey, senior levels get higher increases than junior levels," says Hughes. Assistants came bottom of this year's survey with pay rises averaging 3.6%, and chief executives topped the table with an average of 4.5%. In 2000 the gap was even greater (see salary increases table).
This widening gap between management and employees is alarming trade unions. "The senior posts are being recognised and rewarded more. We question the high pay rises for senior executives and lower pay rises for the rest," says Colin Meech, a national officer at public sector union Unison. This is partly because the way that rises are calculated is changing. Traditionally, many housing associations based their pay rises on those agreed between public sector unions and local authorities at the National Joint Council, but today they are more likely to use remuneration committees influenced by private sector executive pay levels.
This may be evidence of creeping cultural change in the sector, with wage levels being settled more by supply and demand than altruistic values. As Peter Jones, managing partner of management consultant Manor Resources, says: "You're trying to compete in a market that's not a moral market. It just does what it does 鈥� housing associations have always tried to be fair, and that's good, but the market isn't like that."
He adds: "In the past salary levels may have been artificially depressed because organisations didn't want too big a spread of pay within the organisation."
In the battle for talent, housing has the edge over the private sector in at least one respect. "Although we're a business, we still have a social purpose," says James Ray of Anchor. "Many people like working for a values-led organisation. People look at the whole package, not just what the pay is." His comments are echoed by many other housing association employees (see right), who say job satisfaction keeps them in the housing sector even though they could earn more elsewhere.
What the categories mean
Chief executive:chief executive, general manager, managing director
Director:
finance director, director of housing services
Head of function:
head of personnel, head of IT services, head of community services
Senior manager:
regional housing manager, regional development manager, financial controller
Middle manager:
area maintenance manager, principal surveyor, accountant
Junior manager:
assistant accountant, administration manager, clerk of works
Officer:
housing officer, personnel officer, estates officer
Senior assistant:
director鈥檚 secretary, senior administrative assistant
Assistant:
clerical assistant, administrative assistant, secretary
What employees think of pay
Debbie Godfrey, estate manager and trainer, Anchor Guardian. Salary: 拢10,000. 鈥淚 manage the Ivy Field Court estate in Chippenham, Wiltshire. I鈥檓 responsible for 35 flats, about 40 elderly residents, two cleaners and two relief managers. I train new estate managers for other estates. I鈥檓 on duty 23 hours a week, I earn 拢6000 a year and get rent-free accommodation, so you鈥檙e looking at about 拢10,000 a year. I鈥檓 on call five nights a week, but only for emergencies. I鈥檓 paid extra for the training. 鈥淧ersonally, it鈥檚 the satisfaction of the job, being able to help others, that motivates me. When I applied for the job, I wasn鈥檛 thinking about the money.鈥� On executive pay: 鈥淚 think people should be paid whatever they鈥檙e worth. I really think pay should be levelled out a bit. It seems a lot of money, especially when you鈥檙e stuck on the front line.鈥� Claire Davis, finance director, Orbit Housing Group, based in Coventry. Salary: 拢73,000. 鈥淎fter training as a chartered accountant in 1990, I did a six-month course run by a mission organisation in New York and Amsterdam, working with drug addicts and kids in New Jersey housing projects. I went to Ernst & Young and was made redundant along with lots of other people in 1991. I work in the housing sector because I鈥檓 motivated to help people. I started as a voluntary board member with Dulham Homes. I was a financial accountant at Coventry Churches, which became Touchstone. I went to Accord, and then Homezone, where I was director of resources. 鈥淭oday, there鈥檚 no doubt that I could earn more somewhere else. At a housing association where I used to work, the financial director left to become FD of a car rental company and nearly doubled his salary. 鈥淗ere, we鈥檝e struggled to see the right calibre of people come through. We鈥檝e had to interview several times for some positions. People are coming in from health, but not yet from other sectors. Another association, with 750-800 homes, took more than 12 months to get a financial director. They had to advertise four times. The solution is partly money, but it鈥檚 also about promoting the sector. When I decided to work for a charity I thought I鈥檇 have to take a pay cut, but I didn鈥檛 have to.鈥� On executive pay: 鈥淲e鈥檙e managing multimillion pound businesses, so we have to have people who are capable of managing multimillion pound businesses.鈥� Andrew Bush, housing centre manager, Orbit Housing Group, based in Hinckley, Leicestershire. 鈥淚 manage about 20 people including housing managers, housing officers, gardeners and caretakers. Obviously one of the factors in anyone coming to work is pay. But there are other factors that matter to people who do this kind of work 鈥� working with people, the opportunity to help people. I鈥檝e not been tempted to work in the private sector. Working with residents and developing their involvement motivates me. The majority of people are motivated by both money and job satisfaction. Health schemes and pensions are clearly factors.鈥� On executive pay: 鈥淚鈥檇 like to think that pay rises for other staff are comparable. In some areas with virtually full employment there鈥檚 some difficulty recruiting people 鈥� it鈥檚 fairly competitive between housing associations.鈥� Tolu Solebo, senior finance manager, Notting Hill Housing Group, based in Hammersmith, west London. Salary: 拢42,000. 鈥淚 manage accounts, prepare financial advice for decision-makers, and cover home ownership issues like starter homes for key workers. I joined Notting Hill six years ago, before that I was with Kensington Housing Trust. I started work at Drake, a recruitment agency in London. I took my first housing job because there was a recession and it was the only job available. But now, I enjoy providing my skills to a charitable cause. I sometimes think about returning to the private sector, but I鈥檓 happy where I am now and I鈥檓 not going to move. However, the cost of living is getting tougher and tougher; the way things are going our salaries soon won鈥檛 cover basic living costs. Our pay is only going up by 2.5 to 3% and the cost of living is increasing much faster. Within the housing sector things are changing 鈥� we鈥檙e still seen as being in the public sector but, because of the money we need to raise, we鈥檙e moving closer to the private sector levels of efficiency and salaries in order to retain staff.鈥�Bonus scheme
Now that housing associations are competing with private companies in the recruitment market, they are adopting one of the private sector鈥檚 most controversial retention tools. Bonus schemes are used by 40% of housing associations. As in the private sector, senior management are the main beneficiaries. Two thirds of bonus schemes link bonuses to individual performance and 12% link them to overall corporate performance. Peter Jones, managing partner of management consultant Manor Resources, says: 鈥淢ost housing organisations think they should have a performance-related element of pay, but are not sure how to link it with their overall strategy. In RSLs, it doesn鈥檛 have a good history because staff feel it鈥檚 being forced on them.鈥�How to get the survey
The Housing Association Salaries and Benefits Survey 2001/2002 is available from: Terrie HughesRemuneration Data Services
Inbucon
34 Paradise Road
Richmond-upon-Thames
Surrey, TW9 1SE
Tel: 020 8334 5727
Fax: 020 8334 5739
email: surveys@inbucon.co.uk Price: 拢160 to participants, 拢250 for Club Membership (includes a free survey seminar), 拢300 to non-participants, 拢600 to other consultancies.
Source
Housing Today
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