In recruitment, remuneration is a topic we are exposed to every day.
Companies approach us wanting to know whether their remuneration packages are in line with organisations in their industry. Candidates want to understand if they are being compensated fairly, given their education and experience.
After years of noting discrepancies in remuneration structures within Papua New Guinea and a lack of detailed information on the topic, we decided to do something about it.
Over the past few weeks, Peopleconnexion PNG has been rolling out our 2017 PNG Salary Survey.
The response so far has been overwhelming.
More than 1,400 professionals from industries across Papua New Guinea weighed in on everything from salaries and packages, through to career drivers and plans for 2018.
We originally set out to create meaningful remuneration benchmarks, but instead, have been given the opportunity to understand deeper motivations and identify areas where we can all seek to improve upon.
What we found
One of the most interesting insights we’ve gathered from early analytics is about how professionals in Papua New Guinea feel about their remuneration and value at their current place of work.
When asked about how they feel their salary compares with the current market rate, more than 65% felt they were paid below it. For comparison’s sake, only 12% felt their compensation was above market rate.
Expatriate sentiments fared a little better than Papua New Guineans?, however the majority of those surveyed felt their remuneration was not on par with market standards.
In these statistics, we can see a clear discord between what professionals feel their value is at their place of work, and what their employers are offering them right now.
Remuneration isn’t the only motivator
From what we’ve seen after combing through thousands of data points, career development and opportunities for leadership actually outweigh a need for better remuneration.
Consistently, professionals we surveyed ranked these attributes as more important than their remuneration. The reality is that not everyone is driven by monetary incentives.
In a recruitment climate where competition is fierce, employers will need to adapt and step up to the plate to offer the kind of development Papua New Guineans are hungry for.
I constantly meet with candidates who want to understand how their potential new employer will invest in and value them. Increasingly, I field questions about training and development programs, pathways to leadership, the level of responsibility employees are afforded.
There are countless professionals who want to lead, create and turn their industries upside down ? so it is time for organisations to get serious about providing the right incentives.
Another factor to consider when looking over this data is the fact that there is little readily available information about what a ‘standard? market rate actually looks like. It is difficult to gauge yourself against a moving target you can’t see.
For us, this reinforces the need to complete this research and create meaningful benchmarks so our clients and candidates can understand where they stand before they come to the negotiation table.
If you are interested in taking the survey, it is available via this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pngsalarysurveyli
Each participant who completes the survey will receive a free summary report about their industry and will go in the draw to win gift vouchers of their choice.
If your organisation is interested in becoming involved on a large-scale basis, we will be offering the full report and additional findings free of charge to all organisations involved. Please contact marnie@peopleconnexion.com for details.