Employers increasingly value human resources and its role in recruiting, developing and rewarding talent, resulting in higher salaries and more incentives, according to a report by Culpepper and Associates Inc.
The reports looks at total targeted annual cash compensation and incentive eligibility for HR jobs in the U.S., which shows how salary varies by multiple factors, including job level, specialization, location and employer size.
For job levels, the median total targeted compensation for an HR senior executive at $273,000 is about twice as high as for an HR senior manager at $136,910 and more than five times higher than an entry-level associate HR job at $50,120.
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However, raises don't always follow a consistent, predictable level as job levels increase. Salaries for non-management skilled experts in advisory-level jobs tend to equal or exceed pay for first-level leadership positions. Employers pay advisory-level employees at market rates near or above supervisor- and manager-level positions in critical job functions.
Among the majority of nonexecutive job levels, HR specialists receive higher cash compensation than HR generalists, with the median total targeted compensation for those in an HR specialty at the individual contributor level being approximately 20 percent greater than HR general positions.
Directors and managers in a specialized role receive higher total cash compensation, ranging between 8 percent and 13 percent higher than directors and managers in general HR jobs. Typically, compensation analysts receive the highest levels of total targeted cash compensation at all job levels.
Location also plays an important role in determining salaries for most nonexecutive positions, the report finds. San Francisco experiences a median total cash compensation at a rate of $84,700, which is nearly two-thirds higher than in Wichita at $51,000.
A strong correlation also exists between employer size and compensation, especially among director- and executive-level positions. For an HR senior executive, the median total cash compensation is more than twice as much in a U.S. company with more than 10,000 people at $387,700 than a company with less than 100 people at $159,100.
HR professions have generally been less likely to be eligible for incentives than other employees, but recently, HR has extended its role beyond just administrative duties and has become a strategic partner with top management. This change has increased the percentage of HR employees eligible for incentives.
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