To speak of an HR manager or director is to refer to one of the most popular jobs in today’s labour market. Moreover, its growing importance is seen in the need for companies to have a professional on whom the entire organization of the HR department pivots.
With university degrees and extensive training in the field, through master’s degrees and courses, they are highly valued professionals in the business world, so their pay should be in accordance with the services they provide. So, do you know what is the salary of an HR manager or director?
Summary
- Work experience makes it clearer every day that companies must have an HR manager in their company if they want to manage their day-to-day business correctly.
- Organized, critical, leaders in their field… these are some of the skills that a good HR manager needs.
- Offering a good salary to the HR manager, therefore, will allow you to have the best professionals in this field in your company.
Being a good HR manager
Every manager, or HR director, needs a range of characteristics that enable him/her to face the challenges that arise in companies: whether they are external challenges (specific to the global market), or internal challenges (specific to the company’s structure, work organization, social environment, etc.). Their work is a complex task, which can lead to the company’s success.
Combining the needs of the company in any field with the employees’ own talent is the key factor of the HR manager.
Qualities of a good HR manager
Below, you will see the requirements that every good manager, or HR director, must have in order to be successful.
Team organizer
As a member of a company, whether it is an SME or a large company, it is necessary to coordinate teams effectively. You must communicate objectives clearly, and manage your team members, as you are responsible for channelling all conflicts between workers, or between them and the company, therefore, you are a central figure of interconnection.
Talent manager
He is in charge of attracting to his company, those values or talents that the company needs at certain times. The right choice of personnel allows the company and the employee to grow, creating a synergy that benefits both.
Skilled negotiator
Coordinating teams means dealing with the conflicts that arise on a daily basis: serenity, temper and negotiation skills are indispensable elements of the position. In other words, your ability to give in, or to flare up in a given situation is the key to conflict management.
Leadership
All of the above requirements would not be understood without a leader. It is someone who directs the tasks of the department, as well as the people who are part of it: it involves managing projects, assessing initial moments, and their conclusions. It is the guide or lighthouse at the top of the department.
Flexible
No structure is static, especially not for the companies operating in the market. Knowing how to adapt to changes in society, which can affect the company, is the key to success. To change is to grow, to have different points of view, or new approaches. It can improve the company in all its phases.
Analytical
As the central core of the company, its objective is to link, in a precise manner, the needs of the company with the actions of the employees. Applying a critical, or analytical judgment of situations will make it possible to adopt an effective business strategy.
What is an HR manager?
As the visible head of the HR department, the manager or director is in charge of the important task of selecting those candidates who fit best and can contribute the most to the business organization. Alongside this important task is the task of mediating, or acting as a channel, between the wishes of the employees and the company’s needs
For this, it is necessary to have university studies, especially those related to human resources, or/and psychology, as well as to increase the knowledge of them, through masters and training courses. In the same way, it is necessary to master English as a foreign language, and knowing a third language can be a great incentive to be hired in such a position.
What functions can be performed by the HR manager?
As an essential department of the company, its tasks cover a wide range of possibilities, which will be increased depending on the size of the company. Among them we can find:
Search and selection of candidates
It includes all those actions aimed at attracting external talent to the company, as well as conducting tests or interviews with candidates who apply to our offers.
Training
Every company needs to evolve to adapt to the market, and with it, its members must evolve. That is why it must facilitate access to courses, masters, or other disciplines, so that workers have the latest technologies or knowledge.
Organization
Structuring the staff under an organizational chart allows to control staff registrations, cancellations, vacation requests, or absences of employees. In addition, it must contribute to the correct division of the attributed responsibilities, according to the profile of the workers.
Contribute to the ideal environment
It is of utmost importance that the HR manager manages the satisfaction and frustrations of the employees: knowing how to listen to their ideas, their contributions or those changes that they can anticipate from below, always generates a more satisfactory work environment.
Verify regulatory compliance
This includes everything that ensures respect for the prevention of occupational hazards. Consequently, all the measures ensure that the worker of your company performs his activity in the safest possible way, respecting the legislation in force, both at regional, state and European level.
Control of workers
A motivated worker, who feels valued in his performance, will perform better. For this very reason, carrying out evaluation plans and monitoring tasks ensures rewarding those who deserve it, fostering the company’s culture of effort-reward (1).
Communication
The need for the interrelation between the different departments makes the HR area, and especially the figure of the director, a key element in communication with other departments.
Channelling the aspirations of other areas of the company towards his own department is an indispensable condition for the excellent functioning of the company.
Junior vs. senior profile. Advantages and disadvantages
When it comes to choosing the right HR manager or director, the most widespread doubt in the department may arise: should we opt for a junior profile or, on the contrary, a senior profile? Each of these profiles has its own advantages or disadvantages, which you should evaluate. It is also important to know the strengths and weaknesses of the department in order to find the most suitable profile. Here we show you the advantages and disadvantages of both cases.
Junior profile
Advantages
- They learn faster
- They want to prove their work value, to make up for a lack of experience
- They have the latest tools and technologies
- Greater ability to adapt to change
- Lower cost of hiring by the company
Disadvantages
- Lack of experience, which can cause certain problems
- Requires time, and therefore a cost for their training
- Impulsive in making certain decisions
- Less commitment to the company
- Require supervision until they adapt to the company
Senior profile
Advantages
- They have more autonomy, thanks to their extensive experience
- Have more specialized profiles
- They are more adaptable to pressure
- They are quicker to identify the shortcomings of the department in which they are integrated
- Prudent in decision making
Disadvantages
- Higher recruitment costs
- Profiles more distant from new technologies
- Difficulty in adapting to major changes
- Their career plan is shorter, and therefore with less incentive
- They learn more slowly
What is the average salary of an HR manager?
The average salary of a manager depends on different variables, which combine to increase the amount he/she receives from the company in question. Consequently, an HR manager can receive a salary of around 50,000 euros gross at the beginning.
Moreover, and to a greater extent, the manager will receive higher salaries in large companies, especially those with a multinational character, compared to the fees paid by SMEs, which are more economically limited by their own structure and reduced scope.
In addition to all this, experience in the sector, with more than ten years of experience in a similar position, can raise the fees received to more than 63,000 euros gross.
Types of remuneration for HR managers
When we talk about remuneration, we are not referring exclusively to the salary received by an employee on his payroll, in this case, an HR director or manager, but to everything that he receives, and which represents a perception of his emoluments. Thus we can speak of:
- Fixed remuneration. This is the economic perception received by the employee, agreed between the employee and the employer, within a legal minimum, consequently fixed at the beginning of the employment contract and which is always paid regardless of the achievements made in the company.
- Variable remuneration. These are the amounts that the HR manager receives for the achievement of objectives, whether in the long, medium or short term, in order to reward his own good work and that of the team he manages. These are rewards that may be included in the initial contract or established during the term of the contract.
- Remuneration in kind. These are benefits that do not take the form of money, but of services or products that the company can offer to the manager, and which improve their work-life balance, security or quality of life. For example, we are talking about increased vacation days, company telephone, tickets, restaurants, childcare costs… At this point, it must be taken into account that, according to the law, it can never exceed 30% of the total salary (2).
Where in Spanish are the highest HR manager salaries?
Residing in one city or another can mean large salary variations, not only because of the emoluments received by the company, but also because of variables such as the price level of the chosen city and distance to the job, which can lead to higher transportation costs, etc. (3).
Below is a ranking of the cities with the highest salaries for HR managers in Spain:
- Barcelona: The city of Barcelona offers salaries that reach 68,000 euros gross per year if we have 10 years of experience.
- Madrid: The Spanish capital, the core of large companies, offers salaries in the range of 60,000- 63,000 euros gross per year.
- Alicante: The coastal city, on the rise in recent years, reaches salary figures of around 45,000 euros gross per year.
- Valencia: The third largest city in Spain, offers salaries in this category, close to 38,000 euros gross per year.
- Castellón: The city of the peninsular east, offers emoluments that reach 33,000 euros gross per year.
- Malaga: The capital of the Costa del Sol, presents salaries close to 28,000 euros gross per year. Moreover, every year it is moving towards higher emoluments in line with the growth of the city.
- Oviedo: The northern city reduces the salaries offered to 22,000 euros gross per year.
Conclusion
In short, In short, the figure of the Human Resources manager or director in company organizational charts has been increasing in importance in recent years, to the point of being the central point around which the entire HR department revolves. As the top of the pyramid, its work covers various functions, from the selection of employees, organization of tasks, control of the department…
Their salary, as we have seen, should be in line with their profile (whether junior or senior), their years of experience in similar positions, and/or greater or lesser level of responsibility in the company. Adapting their salary to these variables will lead to having a manager who is suitable for your business needs.
References
1. Document from the EOI Business School, by Fernando Corral, Professor of Human Resources. MBA- 2006 Edition.
Source
2. Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015, de 23 de octubre, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley del Estatuto de los Trabajadores Source
3. Lacunza, Rosa. “Educational dimension of a human resources manager, development in the company, touchstone, within the framework of HR management and retention policies.”. ESE. Education Studies. 2002, Nº 2, PAG.I67-I79 HR retention Source
