Most people employed in the superannuation industry must have gasped at some time or another on hearing about some of the huge salaries their counterparts in funds management earn. We all know that fund managers get put on hold, or even dumped, when they lose their star performers, but some of the golden handcuffs are surely outrageous, no matter how good a job someone does.
Super Review’s inaugural remuneration survey (see p12) confirms that people in super earn less than those in funds management or financial planning groups, although their roles are somewhat different. But on the brighter side, our survey also shows that super funds, especially industry funds, appear keen to retain their staff at the moment and that many will pay increases above the inflation rate despite the growing focus on cost-cutting.
That’s good news at a time of huge job shedding at fund managers. “You’d be absolutely amazed at whose CVs are coming across my desk at the moment,” one investment manager recently told me. The victims of the fund manager consolidations, I am told, are also having to accept more “realistic” salary packages.
But they can take comfort in the words of Rainmakers’ Alex Dunnin who says: “I tell people that in this industry if you can feed your kids right now you are doing okay.” He adds: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, I suppose.”
While increasing members’ retirement savings is a huge driver for many super fund employees — and no doubt, a cause for great job satisfaction too — those working in super are also spared some of the extreme performance pressures faced by those in the for-profit world.
Super funds don’t have a “perform or you’re out culture”, but there are still job security risks. While it’s certainly nothing like the massive rationalisation taking place in funds management, there’s the trend towards super fund mergers as part of a drive to gain better economies of scale — and this puts some out of work.
Sadly, too, there are some industry stalwarts, like BHP’s Colin Wirth and News’ Jean Elborn, who have seen their jobs vanish as their employers moved down the outsourcing path.
But there’s also hope! The growing regulatory burden driving corporates to outsource is creating a job boom for compliance experts. The industry’s growing obsession with corporate governance may also provide new opportunities for independent people to sit on better structured boards. And, I am told, increasing moves by neighbouring countries to build their retirement savings may also create some viable consulting opportunities for Aussies.
