HR managers received the third highest pay rise for professionals this year, according to research from specialist recruiter Randstad.
The study, which looked at the salaries of more than 9,000 UK workers, along with data from 700 placed jobs, revealed that HR managers were in the top five professions for wage hikes in 2021, gaining an average salary boost of 5% compared to the previous year. They were third behind marketing assistants on 7% and software workers on 9%.
The data also found that the north of the country saw the greatest pay increase for office-based workers, with HR assistant salaries up by an average of 6% in the North East and by 4.5% across the North West. HR managers in the North West also saw their wages boosted by an average of 4.4%. Pay for other HR-related roles have also increased by nearly 3% on average across the country.
In London, workers across all sectors received a pay rise of anywhere between £2,000 and £5,000, with 15% of those living in the city reporting significant boosts of more than £30,000 when switching jobs, the study showed.
HR managers working in London saw the maximum salary rise from £48,950 to £50,500, with the role seeing an average salary rise of 3.1% over the year.
Regionally there were some stark disparities in pay increases for HR managers with the average salary falling by 0.1% in Yorkshire and Humberside, compared to an average increase in wage of 3.2% in Northern Ireland and 4.4% in the North West.
The report also found that the profession with the greatest wage differential was the technology sector. Adrian Smith, senior director of operations, Randstad, said: “It’s certainly been an interesting time for the technology industry and it’s skilled workforce. Across all our technologies jobs surveyed, the East comes out on top with an average of 9% uplift on 2020 – from developers, to designers and software engineers, these key roles are all rising together.”
He added that conversely, in the West, and similarly across the country, figures are low if not negative. For the same jobs in the West Midlands, average salaries are posted at -2% since 2020. London, once seen as the technology capital, barely raises salaries by 0.2%.