So how have you fared?

Next time you go out for drinks with work colleagues, make sure your manager buys the round. Senior housing professionals have bagged the largest salary increases this year by a big margin, with those in maintenance, property services and property development enjoying the greatest increases in the size of their pay packets; up to 13.2% more in some cases.

Other senior groups have also done well. Seniors in housing management and personnel have received inflation-busting pay rises – as have middle managers in IT, who have taken home 6.8% more this year than last. In fact, across the board, average salaries have risen 4.3%, according to the largest annual survey of housing association pay by consultant Incubon. That’s 0.2% more than last year’s average of 4.1% and means the gap between salary growth and inflation, which has hovered around the 3.3% mark over the past year, is growing.

But not everyone has enjoyed a healthy salary rise. The survey, which collected data from 8332 employees from 89 housing associations, shows that those in middle and junior management roles have seen little change in their incomes. It also reveals widespread geographical variations, with similar roles in different regions providing very different rewards. And the higher up the pay scale you go, the more your location will determine what you get paid: chief executives in London earn an average of £93,500, whereas those in the North-west only get £62,001 – a difference of more than £30,000.

Jodie Wright, Incubon’s pay and benefits specialist, says these wide geographical pay differentials are explained, in part, by the size of the organisations operating within a region; those areas with a higher proportion of large housing associations will provide higher average salaries for their board members. The same logic applies in the private sector where directors of £20m-turnover companies earn more than executives of a £2m company.

But, says Wright, this is only part of the story, particularly where the South-east is concerned. In this area, high-level employees earn more than their counterparts in similar-sized associations in other parts of the country. Wright says: “This is in stark contrast to the general trend in the private sector where there tends to be less of a regional differential in higher ranked jobs as companies seek to attract professionals from all over the UK, including the South-east.” Of course, it’s all to do with the laws of supply and demand and in some areas there are a greater number of organisations that must compete for a smaller pool of available staff.

Jane Preece, director of organisational development at Walsall Housing Group in the Midlands, says that on the whole, the group doesn’t have tremendous difficulty in recruiting people to senior roles because it has a wide geographic appeal and good transport links for those needing to commute. She says: “We’re close to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry and lots of other major urban conurbations, so our recruitment net covers a wide area.”

Other housing associations are in a very different situation and are experiencing recruitment difficulties because of their location. Cornelius Attridge, human resources manager at southern England-based Atlantic Housing Group, says filling vacancies, particularly at the more junior end of the scale, can be a challenge. “We have a large Asda nearby that offers reasonable pay and discounted groceries to its staff so we are in competition with the store and no doubt lose out to it sometimes.

“It’s a particular problem with the recruitment of care workers. We are keen to recruit people who maybe have no experience but whom we can train. But it takes time to do the police checks before we can offer a job. In the mean time, people may choose other employers that are able to move more quickly.”

Good people are headhunted and snapped up, so a salary leapfrogging process ensues

Attridge says he expects it to become even more difficult to fill care worker roles as the number of care homes in the country continues to increase as the population ages. It’s a concern shared by other housing providers, especially those dealing with sheltered accommodation.

Another perennially difficult area to recruit for is property development. Housing associations are in hot competition with the private sector to recruit the best people for property management and development jobs, which explains why heads of function in these roles have had their salaries climb by 8.6% since 2003. And Anna Knight, human resources manager at Circle 33 Housing Group, expects this trend to continue. “Good people are headhunted and snapped up quickly, so a damaging salary leapfrogging process ensues. That’s an issue for public sector employers with tight budgets.”

With recruitment pressures growing at the junior and senior ends of the social housing market, employers are trying all the harder to retain their existing staff. Circle 33 offers flexible working hours and is investing heavily in IT that supports home working. Says Knight: “We now have a significant number of staff who work from home some or all of the time. Our approach to flexible working is a key tool in promoting staff retention – it’s all about meeting staff needs.”

Employers are also looking to use the provision of benefits as a tool for staff retention: Incubon’s Wright says there has been a noticeable increase in the number of housing associations offering benefits such as private healthcare to all grades, rather than just to senior-level personnel.

Atlantic Housing Group offers private healthcare to all employees and Attridge says the policy has paid dividends. “Junior employees don’t expect a benefit like this and the offer can make all the difference as to whether they chose us or another employer,” he says. “And of course there’s a benefit for us – staff don’t have to spend months off work waiting to receive treatment.”

Valerie Howden, human resources director at Look Ahead Housing and Care, says she expects housing associations to make increasing use of private sector strategies – such as the offer of private healthcare schemes and the use of performance-related pay to reward staff – as they change the way in which they run their businesses.

She says: “We are being required by the government’s spending regime to operate in a much more commercially competitive environment; our reward strategy needs to reflect this emphasis and so bring about change. The divide between private and voluntary sector modus operandi is diminishing and so is the gap in human resources practices.” HT