21 August 2008
How does your internal communication salary match up?
Communication salaries have "increased by more than 10%" during 2008, says VMA.
Communications search and selection firm, VMA Group, has released the interim findings of its research conducted in May this year with its candidate and client base.
Basic salaries can top £78K
Average salaries were calculated for the five main internal communications (IC) job titles:
- Head of IC.
- Senior IC Manager.
- IC Business Partner.
- IC Manager.
- IC Executive.
Heads of Internal Communication topped the salary ranking with an average basic salary of £78K, next came IC Business Partners with an average basic of £60K.
Senior Internal Communication Managers, according to our survey, can command an average basic salary of £55K while the average basic salary for an IC Manager came in at £45K.
Entry level IC roles averaged at £30K basic salary (see Figure 1, below).
Figure 1. 2008 average IC salaries in £
Positive news for communicators
VMA says these salary figures have all increased by more than 10% in the last year, despite the economic downturn – an encouraging development for internal communication professionals on the whole.
"While the market seems to be tightening slightly, there are still a good number of roles in internal communication, many of them created out of restructures," a VMA spokesperson said.
The full results of VMA's salary survey are expected to be announced by the end of 2008.
North America has highest paid communicators
Melcrum's own research in 2006 into salary, department size and budget found that North American communicators were, on average, the highest paid communicators in the world.
The average salary range for a North American communicator in 2006 was $80,001-$90,000.
Published in a report called The Pulse, the research, based on a survey of 1,149 communication professionals worldwide, discovered that the average salary range for a North American communicator in 2006 was $80,001-$90,000.
But there was found to be significant variance over different industries within North America. For example, average salary bands ranged from $60,000-$70,000 in the non-profit sector, and up to $90,000-$100,000 in sectors including telecommunications and technology.
Meanwhile, UK communicators were most likely to have seen a reduction in their team's headcount between 2005 and 2006, and Asia-Pacific reported the highest amount of growth – 43% of survey respondents from the region reported an increase in headcount.
Have your say
Nearly half of Melcrum's survey respondents who reported an increase in communication staff said it was primarily due to the function being taken more seriously within the organization.
How do these findings compare to your own experience? Have your function's salary figures increased by 10% in the past year? Share your story with us below. (And if you're looking for your next communications role, visit our newly redesigned sister site, internalcommsjobs.com.)
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How do your salary, department size and budget compare on a worldwide scale?
Melcrum's Jobsite: www.internalcommsjobs.com
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