Half of green workforce hit by pay freeze/cut

18 October 2010

No pay increase for half of sustainability professionals in 2009/10

Cutbacks continue to hamper pay and prospects for sustainability professionals based in the UK, according to the annual careers and salary benchmark report by publishing and business research organisation Environment Analyst and sustainability recruitment specialist Allen &York[1]. Fifty two percent of those surveyed did not receive any increase in their salaries over the last year, with around one in ten actually having their pay cut.

The report is based on 17,000 recent candidate records on the books of Allen & York, as well as a further 2,600 responses to an online survey which ran from July to September 2010. It is based on a true cross-section of “green collar” workers, ranging from environmental consultancy directors and corporate sustainability managers to scientific officers and graduate trainees fresh into the industry. The report also reveals the responses of employers to the wider economic pressures and, for the first time this year, it also includes analysis of the career prospects and pay trends by region in the global
sustainability sector.

It is the second year running where a similarly high proportion of the green workforce has experienced static or declining pay packets. However, it was far from all doom and gloom across the board, with those specialising in the renewables, CSR and carbon strategy fields more likely to have received an above-average pay rise this year.

Bonus payment trends were generally more subdued in 2009/10, with almost two thirds (63%) of survey respondents not awarded any bonus during the last twelve months, a marked increase on the previous year (54%).

In the UK, both the consultancy and public sector organisations have been particularly hard hit in terms of cutbacks over the last twelve months. Nearly a third of those surveyed who work for consultancy/advisory firms said the headcount of sustainability specialists employed in their organisation had declined, rising to 42% of those in government-run bodies (see Figure 1). Respondents generally felt that prospects going into 2011 were improving, with the exception of those in the public sector where 58% of survey respondents anticipate further job cuts within their organisations.

Liz Trew, one of the authors of the report, comments: “The public sector accounts for a significant proportion of sustainability and environmental professionals in the UK. Organisations such as the Environment Agency and Defra are currently facing cuts in the region of 25-30% over the next five years as part of the government’s austerity programme. So with the recovery now underway in the private sector, we can expect to see a transition of sustainability professionals from the public sector to the commercial world.

“Certain specialist skills – particularly those surrounding renewable energy and carbon management – continue to be highly sought after, which is reflected in the salaries achievable in these areas. The survey results also highlight growing opportunities in the global sustainability arena, particularly in the Far East, Australasia and Central & South America.”

In spite of almost two fifths (38%) of UK survey participants reporting that they felt job security across the sustainability sector was lower compared with a year ago, the majority (63%) felt prospects over the longer term (from 2011-2015) were still good or very good (see Figure 2).

According to Paul Gosling, Operations Director at Allen & York, there are exciting prospects on the horizon for the sustainability sector. “Targets for renewable energy and the emerging technologies involved, offer new and diverse career opportunities. Achieving the UK government targets could provide £100 billion worth of investment opportunities and up to half a million jobs in the renewable energy sector alone by 2020,” he says.

“Similarly, within the waste industry, a recent report[2] published by the Friends of the Earth suggests that ambitious targets to increase the amount of rubbish recycled in the UK could help create more than 50,000 new jobs.”

[The two figures referred to above are available for publication - download along with the full press release at http://environment-analyst.com/downloads/Sustainability-salary-survey-2010_UK_PR.pdf]

FURTHER INFORMATION

1. “Sustainability Professionals Careers and Salary Benchmark Report 2010” is a 73 page report containing over 90 charts and tables – full report available to download, £371 + VAT.
For further details see: http://environment-analyst.com/survey

“Globalisation and specialist roles help drive green jobs out of recession” is a free article available for download looking at some of the trends identified in the full report. For further details see: http://environment-analyst.com/sample/

2. Friends of the Earth More jobs, less waste (September 2010). For further details see: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/jobs_recycling.pdf

For further information please call:

- Liz Trew, Environment Analyst: tel: +44 (0)1743 818008 or email: liz.t@environment-analyst.com
- Miriam Heale, Communications Manager, Allen & York: tel: 0844 371 8986 (UK) or +44 (0)1202 888986 or email: info@allen-york.com

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