CEOs' right hands fare well

Getting what you're worth? JULIE MIDDLETON reports in the final of our three-part series.

Do you think you're being paid about right for the job you do?

Maybe not - but the statistics here, from the latest bi-annual CubikSurvey of pay in the New Zealand corporate world, indicate what people are being paid across the country for different jobs.

Cubiks, a specialist HR consultancy based in Wellington, collates data from 503 New Zealand companies which collectively employ 300,000 people.

The 356 job types this survey covers adds up to 16,636 people.

It's an accurate barometer of who's getting what - benefits and perks aren't collapsed into the figures - and the corporates who subscribe to the survey use the statistics to keep up with trends and set their own pay bands.

AOK, PA!

It's been a very good year to be a personal assistant to a chief executive. Base salaries for PAs rose 10.5 per cent in the year to September, reflecting the increasing sophistication of the job they do.

It's the fourth-largest move among the 365 job types covered by the Cubiks survey.

In the increasingly common lean corporate culture, PAs may be serving several people as well as a CEO, says Jane Kennelly, general manager of TMP Lampenalectus.

"We're seeing a one [PA] to four ratio go to one in six," she says. "More people are in the mix."

Other support roles coming under the corporate services and admin banner have also changed considerably with the impact of technology.

Base salaries in the year to September rose at a healthy rate for secretaries (3.1 per cent), receptionists (4.1) and telephonists (4.4).

Overall, corporate services and admin staff saw a base salary rise of 4.1 per cent in the year to September.

They're managing well

General staff in the management and management services field pegged a 3.8 per cent movement in average base salary.

But within that sector, geographic information systems specialists - many of whom would work for territorial authorities - moved just 1.2 per cent, making them the smallest movers covered by the CubikSurvey.

Better to be in internal audit, says Momentum Consulting's Howard Ross. "It might not seem very sexy but it's now more important than it has been in the past."

Internal auditors, he says, "are now part of the management team".

High times in supply

and distribution

The bar has risen higher, says Kennelly.

Lower-level jobs in supply and distribution have become more skilled thanks to new technology, but skills alone aren't enough - managers are now employing for attitude.

"You want people to be reliable, to turn up on time," she says. "Speed and response are now so important, you need to have quality people."

Staff in supply and distribution had a base salary rise of a healthy 4.5 per cent in the September year.

Money, money, money

Success in finance career terms is no longer about being in the company with the biggest turnover, says Momentum Consulting's Howard Ross.

This year, he says, it will be about working for people-centred and dynamic companies with vision and drive who will involve their financial staff in more than just paper-shuffling.

"The business must be strong, but if it doesn't have a strong culture to back that up, people just won't be interested."

Managers are also expecting more of finance staff. "The days of accountants producing information for other accountants rather than the business have gone."

Jobs in the $45,000 to $55,000 bracket across all disciplines are in short supply, says Ross, as that peculiarly Kiwi rite of passage, the overseas experience, lures away staff with a few solid years of experience behind them.

Payroll staff are among them, says Kennelly - "they're like hen's teeth."

Ross says that the best opportunities in 2002 beckon analysts, especially in the health, telecommunications and financial services sector.

Finance and accounting staff saw their base salaries rise by 4.3 per cent in the year to September.

* To order the full report, contact McBride HR on (04) 384-5830.

Cubik Survey