PwC offers reliable African salary surveys

As South African and international companies expand their geographic footprint, the demand for local and international skills rises. But how would companies remunerate employees at market-related salaries without having market-related statistics?

Salary surveys are normally used as a guideline to start operations and review skill requirements. However, if one looks at a company’s salaries and wages bill, it’s one of its biggest expenses. Companies mostly strive to pay to have the best, but paying too much could inflate their salaries and wages bill to the detriment of the organisation and of course, influence future sustainability.

“Realistically, how do they know what the market-related salary should be when they have unreliable statistics derived from various methodologies and how can they interrogate the data? Is the information fairly represented because locals and expatriates are paid differently, as determined by regulation,” says René Richter, Associate Director: Research at PwC.
The overall concern by employers is determining how to navigate uncharted territories while avoiding misinterpretation and abuse of salary survey data.

“There is a huge economic boom in Africa, resulting in a vast need for information on people’s salaries, remuneration, bonuses, benefits and conditions of service,” according to Richter. Citing The Economist, she explains that over the ten years leading up to 2010, six of the world's ten fastest-growing economies were in Africa and for the five years from 2011 to 2015, the top ten fastest-growing economies with population sizes exceeding 10 million will include seven African countries.

In an innovative approach to provide clients with valuable guidelines to interrogate and interpret survey data for their remuneration decision-making process and other related factors, PwC has launched the first Human Resource (HR) Services Africa Conference in Kenya during September 2011,” says Richter. “The Conference helps companies to focus on people and rewards. It is about information sharing to identify key issues that clients grapple with.”

As PwC surveys are based on the proven South African REMChannel approach, its methodologies are reliable.
“Within our network of firms across Africa, we want to empower PwC staff in those countries to collect data and apply the model to achieve reliable, quality information. This will provide a level of comfort for clients to use to make remuneration decisions, which PwC staff can educate them on,” adds Richter.

PwC advises clients on how to formulate the best HR strategies based on the data and the organisation’s strategic business objectives to encompass factors such as remuneration, culture, flexibility, incentives and benefits, achieving a balance between quantitative and qualitative aspects.

Furthermore, it looks at other related issues – such as tax and work permits – to help the company and employees avoid penalties and imprisonment.
“At the conference, we’ll host numerous workshops to assist clients and delegates. Examples of such workshops include: ‘How to interpret and prevent the abuse of salary surveys?’, ‘expatriates: Who's in charge - them or you?’ and ‘finding and retaining talent in Africa’,” says Richter.

The inaugural Human Resource Services Africa Conference takes place at the Safari Park Hotel in Kenya from 18 to 21 September 2011. PwC and other specialists – representing more than 25 African countries – will present topics relevant to HR professionals with employees in Africa.