Article
The Moscow Times, Jobs & Careers, Business Review, 17 Ìàðòà 2004
Take a Pay Hike
The climate of optimism and success is now bearing fruit in a trickle-down effect. Although the big deals, mergers and acquisitions are good news for the boardroom, this is not necessarily of much interest to the average worker. But employees are now reaping rewards for the part they played, as companies become more at ease with bumping up salaries.
Most experts agree that the job market enjoyed stable growth in salaries last year. Oksana Zelenova, general director at Agency Staff, said that salaries have been driven up by several factors, in particular the perceived stability in the current political and economic climate.
«We have also found that there is a shortage of quality specialists on the market and companies have started doing their best to hold onto the ones they already have, as well as finding new ones. The best way of doing this is offering better salaries,» Zelenova said. Yekaterina Varga, salary survey project manager at the Ancor staffing agency, confirmed this view and said that competition for specialists between companies has heated up. Varga also said that salaries are on the up as a result of inflation. «Now we have both dollar and ruble inflation. Life here is becoming more and more expensive in both dollar and ruble denominations and that is another reason why salaries are going up», she said.
The figures
Different staff agencies report different increases in salaries. Igor Khukhrev, general director of Ancor, said that mid- and top-level managers’ salaries have risen by 10 percent on average over the past year. Zelenova said that the percentage increase was closer to 20 percent or 30 percent across the board for the wide spectrum of sectors her agency recruits for.
Anatoly Kupchin, general director of Agentstvo Kontakt, said that salaries have grown by about 20 percent over the last year.
Zelenova said that a mid-level employee can currently count on a salary of between $800 and $2,500. «I should also say that a salary of $2,000 a month is now a standard sum for a mid-level manager working in a Western company in Moscow,» she said. The gap between salaries in Russian and foreign companies has also significantly decreased. «The biggest difference in salaries for people doing the same job in a Russian and a foreign company currently stands at just 50 percent. A few years ago this might have been three times greater,» Zelenova said. «The average difference is now only 20 percent to 30 percent,» she said, adding that this huge decrease suggests that Russian companies are now paying more attention to their staff’s needs and taking more care of holding onto professional workers.
Of course, salaries vary depending on the position, profession, and sector. According to Agency Staff, a secretary earns around $400 to $500 a month, an increase of about $100 from last year. A mid-level accountant receives $500 to $800, while a chief accountant could earn anything from $800 and upwards, up by $100 to $200 from 2003. A mid-level sales manager makes around $700 per month, with additional bonuses for each successful deal. A company director can currently earn $5,000 per month, according to Zelenova.
It transpires that the growth leaders in terms of salary are regional sales managers and company human resources managers. Khukhrev said that the average salary of a regional sales manager was $2,000 last year, a sum that has risen to approximately $2,700. The average salary of a human resources manager increased from $3,000 to $3,800 over the same period.
This trend is attributed to the fact that companies are significantly expanding their activities in the regions and there is growing competition between the companies for qualified specialists. That is one reason why human resources personnel are becoming so important.
Shady business
«Another very important development is that people on the market are starting to take heed of their official salary, because in the long run it will give them more benefits — pension records, the possibility to obtain loans and so on,» Kupchin said. «For more than 90 percent of specialists currently looking for work, the fact that their potential salary is going to be official is a vital issue in deciding whether to accept a job or not. Even a 20 percent difference between an official and an unofficial salary fails to discourage many from an officially salaried contract,» he said.
Forecast
Kupchin said that salaries in 2003 reached pre-1998 levels and it is expected that there will be further growth in salaries this year.
Zelenova said that sooner or later salaries on the local market will achieve parity with those in Europe. «When businesses become international, salaries tend to equalize with those in the West,» she said. «Salary equalization is a global trend and Russia will not be an exception.»