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The corporate salary survey accesses over 3,000 senior managers across Europe understanding core skills and responsibilities to provide a benchmark for remuneration. We then interviewed key managers to understand forthcoming organisational and sector challenges.
There has to be a margin for localised enhancement in the remuneration package for individuals located in capital cities due to accommodation, taxes etc.
At the Chief Security Officers’ level there is still a broad anomaly in responsibility and impact from one corporation to another.
Capabilities have to be defined initially through geographical location. Many CSOs (or Heads of Security) have not been exposed to international cross-border issues, although they are responsible for €billion corporations.
With corporations acquiring other businesses, such secluded CSOs are rapidly exposed through language inadequacies and technical capability when siloed too long.
This opens up greater opportunities for capable business managers who understand large corporation thinking and appreciate that the security function adds value.
The larger world stage also offers opportunities for senior executives with a background in organisational building in both private and public sectors.
Non executive directors have a growing influence and fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. In our experience it is not unusual for them to seek out the ‘security person’ as they identify that role as ‘keepers of the company’s ethics programmes’.
Keeping Pace
Executive remuneration on the whole has risen by 6% (IRS) in the past twelve months. Many in the financial sector have had mixed fortunes, bonuses paid 2007 for most senior managers have been in line with the past two years. A small number of executive managers can receive up to 100% of basic salary in bonuses, for the majority of us, awards are up to 25% (PWC). Those managers who are multi-skilled and developed valued services to their business could have expected pay reviews in 2008 of up to 15% (SSR 2007). The long hours culture remains with over 82% of senior managers working more than 50 hours per week and 34% working over 60 hours (IoD 2007).
Convergence or Not?
Whilst there is a thirst for understanding convergence by those in physical security, Information Security Management has been driven by business savvy IS managers who have capitalised upon the paranoia in boardrooms for digital integration, more forcefully than those from physical security.
Should this be considered perverse; when physical security management are a major part (if not the owner) of the enterprise recovery strategy, they need to hold their ground (or prove their worth) in the boardroom. Convergence is about cost reduction, one party or the other has proved their worth more. ISM relies on exterior threats to continue to improve their defences and increased spending. Yet poor procedural policies for data protection rather than maliciousness or organised crime attacks a corporation’s reputation and profitability. This year we have seen the FSE impose a number or large fines for poor procedural practices.
Standing Still is Not an Option for Anyone
The CISO position will be recruited on average every 3 - 5 years. There is a consistent benchmarking of skills and remuneration in open market that occurs with this type of attrition.
In the mid executive position around the function of security (physical, investigations, due diligence) there is a similar attrition or job realignment rate (SSR® 2007) which enables companies to keep pace with current salaries. Having managed a number of such reviews there is an averaged salary re-inflation of up to 15% when positions are subject to open market review.
The age profile for the security profession has decreased over the last ten years, but consideration must be given to how we recruit and retain Generation ‘Y’ applicants in five years time. On our current projections the age profile of people attracted to the security profession will increase, whilst the general demographics of executive managers of many businesses will decrease.
This foretells that in the soft skills positions of investigations, employee relations and client assurance, practitioners will be generationally inverse so perhaps increasingly disenfranchised with their own corporate culture!
Employment Hotspot
The Middle East continues to attract a premium remuneration mainly because of lack of suitable accommodation. Housing allowances have trebled in the past two years to offset this. Many corporations have attempted to correct the imbalance through lower basic salaries and higher performance bonuses. But the geo political situation and increasing corporate appetite for risk, demands higher social skills from service professionals.
There is a demand for mid management graduates which will increase with the strengthening financial strength of the region, lead by the UAE.
Whose Job Is It Anyway?
In the CEO office the top item remains recoverability, followed closely by M&A, yet the events of the past weeks might just have jarred every senior executive with the £3.5bn losses incurred by a mid range low risk dealer by the name of Jerome Kervial. More incredibly is the claim by Bank Societe Generale that he had gambled £37bn in the share market. More than the entire wealth of the bank and larger than the annual budget deficit of France. Should the issue be oversight? Is this where the security function should be engaged?
In whole sectors of commence through treasury, hedging or future trading, individuals put an organisation at risk.
Perhaps the audit department would say that they are in charge of processes, and compliance would argue that they are in charge of regulatory issue. Where does the organisational threat sit when allegedly Mr Kervial did not undertake any fraud or seek personal gain from his actions?
The CSO should be at the core of an enterprises risk, with reputation, brand integrity, ethics, social responsibility and inclusion all issues for their in-tray.
Ownership of risks can be multifarious, and with business resumption you have to ensure transparency and accessibility for those who contribute to recoverability. Does this sound like the job profile for a CISO? So international communication and influencing skills are at a premium in today’s corporate world.
Future Needs
It is imperative that senior security professionals have ‘second sling’ appeal. This will increase their worth. In the last ten years the security professional has become one of the senior managers at the corporate table. The ‘second sling’ is to emphasise that they are the executive to whom failures or breakdowns will be delivered and will facilitate the fix. In order to achieve this, traditional security skills are not enough. You need to identify the thinking of the corporation, have immediate knowledge of its risk appetite and be prepared to offer your judgements within best corporate practice.
Looking to own risk is a key criteria, and in Europe owning the risk associated with corporate manslaughter regulations might be timely for senior managers to consider.
Every CSO has that monthly or quarterly presentation to the executive board. Security will remain on the boardroom agenda if the message is clear, precise and delivered in the language of the business.
Last year’s ROI was 30%, double the rate of return to most trading sectors of an organisation. Coupled with this year’s cost reductions or cost realignment that is required by most global organisations of up to 10% - it is going to be a savage year.
But as one CSO reminded me, ‘Keeping it simple and understandable is a most under-rated skill’.
SSR® Personnel is the largest recruitment consultancy dedicated to the security, fire, health and safety sectors in Europe, operating in 20 countries. We have a global presence in North America, and partners in Asia and Eastern Europe. We are accredited ISO 9001:2000. For details of our opportunities and open vacancies visit our web site www.ssr-personnel.com
SSR® Personnel Services Ltd
5 Blackhorse Lane London E17 6DNTel: 020 8626 3100
Fax: 020 8626 3101
Email: info@ssr-personnel.com
www: ssr-personnel.com