Supply Chain Review - 2012 Career and Salary Guide

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Career & Salary Guide

supplychainreview.com.au34 October 2012

career & salary guide ANALYSIS


Back to BASICS

Leaders who can conduct financial and strategic analysis can help companies understand trends impacting the business and make them well placed

for expansion. They can also identify cost savings; an activity always on the modern company’s agenda. So it’s not surprising, people with this kind of skill-set are particularly in demand.

In Australia, tertiary qualifications including business, commerce, economics, and social sciences remain the most in-demand credentials for mid to senior level executives.

Exclusive market intelligence from leading global recruitment firm Logistics Executive Recruitment (Logistics Executive) points to an increased demand for commercial roles.

In addition, Logistics Executive’s 2012-13 Supply Chain Employment Market Survey, produced annually for SupplyChain Review’s Career and Salary Guide, shows an increased demand for distribution, warehousing, procurement and inventory executives across the extended supply chain.

In particular, the survey shows the mining, resources, agriculture, manufacturing, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail and pharmaceutical sectors are on the hunt for business improvement, change management skills and commercial acumen.

Logistics Executive CEO Kim Winter says building talent pools for in-demand roles from within logistics ranks continues to be challenging but the good news is the

industry has been able to recruit from outside its traditional space.

“We’ve been able to introduce excellent candidates from other sectors including the manufacturing, information technology, FMCG and retail sectors where demand has softened over the last 12 months,” Winter says.

“In the last 12 months we made twice as many placements in commercial, finance and business improvement positions in Western Australia and almost as many on the eastern seaboard as we did in the previous year.”

Winter also says employers are also looking for candidates with analytical skills, proficient in the most popular and up-to-date system and software applications.

“New systems are being rolled out to improve efficiencies, but many organisations continue to require candidates with advanced knowledge of traditional software programs, such as Microsoft Excel, and experience using enterprise resource planning systems such as SAP and Oracle,” he says.

In supply chain and logistics the highest level of demand has been experienced in procurement and sourcing in the mining and resources sector.

“The retail sector is placing distribution and transport roles as a priority, whereas the third party logistics and contract logistics space is recruiting CFOs, accountants and distribution centre managers,” Winter says.

“The pharmaceutical sector is also seeking DCMs, as

Employers across Australia are adopting a back-to-basics approach with a focus on core commercial skills when hiring across a wide range of positions. Anna Game-Lopata reports

The Australian supply chain and logistics sectors continue to be significantly impacted by the mining and resources boom

supplychainreview.com.au October 2012 35 Proudly supported by

SENIOR EXECUTIVES Chief Executive Officer 450-1,000+Chief Operating Officer 300-400President General Manager 300-450+Vice President 220-300+FINANCE CFO- Finance Director 200-500+Senior/Chief Accountant 110-170Financial Controller 125-220+Treasurer 120-200Finance Manager 105-165+Commercial Manager 100-200+Accountant 80-120Credit Manager 70-135Business Analyst 70-130Management Accountant 70-130Financial Accountant 70-115 HUMAN RESOURCES Director/VP Human Resources 240-280+GM Human Resources 170-200+Human Resources Manager 120-140+ SUPPLY CHAIN Supply Chain Director/GM 250-350+National Supply Chain Manager 180-240+Project Manager 130-150Manufacturing/Plant Manager 120-160Production Manager 90-130Supply Chain Analyst 80-120 LOGISTICS GM Logistics 200-280+Commercial Manager 150-180+National Logistics Manager 150-180+Regional Logistics Manager 130-160State Logistics Manager 130-160Logistics Manager 80-120Logistics Analyst 80-120Inventory Manager 80-100PURCHASING/PROCUREMENT/PLANNING/MATERIALS Chief Procurement Officer 220-300+Group Procurement Manager 200-250+Category Manager 140-160Category Specialist 110-150Procurement Manager 90-130Purchasing Manager 80-130Materials Manager 80-130Planning Manager 80-130Contracts Specialist 80-120

WAREHOUSING National Warehousing Manager 150-200+Operations Manager 120-160+Distribution Centre Manager 140-170+Contract Manager 180-140+Warehouse Manager 130-140+OH&S Manager 120-140TRANSPORT General Manager Transport/Logistics 200-250+National Transport Manager 180-220+National Compliance Manager 160-180+State Transport Manager 130-160Linehaul Manager 120-150Site Manager 120-140Workshop Manager 100-140Import/Export Manager 70-130Shift Manager 70-115SALES AND MARKETING General Manager Business Development (BD)/Sales 160-230+National Manager BD/Sales 140-190+Sales/Business Development Manager 100-140+Account Manager 90-130Customer Service Manager 80-130Marketing Manager 70-130Sales Executive 60-100PROJECT MANAGER/INTERIM MANAGER per dayProject Logistics Manager 800-1,500+Project Implementation Manager 3PL 800-1,500+Project Implementation Manager WMS/TMS 1,000-1,500+Quality/Lean/Six Sigma Implementation Manager 1,000-1,500+

Position AnnuAL

sALAry ($’000)

Data Supplied by Logistics Executive Recruitment Remuneration packages relate to large privately owned or medium-sized publicly listed companies, include base salary, superannuation and vehicle allowance.Packages do not take account of Short Term Incentives (STI) or Long Term Incentives (LTI). Some remuneration packages in small to medium size companies may be 5–15 percent below those quoted. Some remuneration packages in large tier one publicly listed or in Mining/Resources, companies may be 10-30 percent above those quoted.Remuneration packages quoted are based on research, actual placements made in the past 12 months and customer feedback and are a guide only.

Position AnnuAL

sALAry ($’000)

sALAry GuiDE


career & salary guide ANALYSIS


well as a significant number of general procurement staff and managers.

“Marine and shipping executives are currently prevalent selections in the oil and gas sector, FMCG companies are seeking operations management and the apparel industry is rapidly hiring operations and distribution leads.”

Supply chain analysts, industrial manufacturers, commercial directors and business development managers are highly sought after in the freight forwarding sector while pre-sales and industry management is a hot requirement in the warehouse management and technology space.

Winter adds Logistics Executive has also witnessed a lift in requirements for experienced sales and business development people.

“Many of our clients see attacking the market with an increased business development presence as the best from of defence in the current economic conditions,” he says.

“This increased demand is so marked, we’re building a national database of senior and mid- level sales and business development candidates with transferable skills for clients across a number of similar industry verticals.”

Another significant trend is the increased use of high-level supply chain and logistics industry contractors and consultants in interim roles to assist companies improve efficiencies and reduce costs.

“Many organisations are relying more heavily on project professionals as they undergo significant periods of change, restructure or transformation such as business systems implementation and process improvement,” Winter says.

“We’ve seen a noticeable increase in the demand for six sigma or lean executives to work on transformation and implementation projects.”

While the logistics sector commenced the 2011-12 financial year with most roles in high demand, the wet summer in 2012, strong Australian dollar and east coast floods contributed to a slight decline in industry activity.

“This resulted in a softening in demand and salary levels leading into 2012,” Winter explains.

“The early 2012 strength of the mining and resources sector has begun to taper off easing salary level pressure generally nationally although demand for transport, project logistics and 3PL experience remained firm.”

There is also evidence candidates are unwilling to move to WA for employment.

“We’re receiving significant feedback from major WA-based customers and large numbers of candidates from our 40,000-strong Australian database indicating job seekers are indisposed to taking work in the west,” Winter says.

This view is supported by new research from Edith Cowan University, which backs resources industry claims that a temporary intake of migrant workers will be essential to meeting local skills needs.

“We identified cases where recently retrenched workers [in the eastern states] declined to relocate to WA, due to a range of reasons from social and family commitments to the cost of living and a lack of infrastructure in some areas,” Researcher Dr Susanne Bahn says.

Kim Winter points to an increasing number of senior

candidates giving consideration to family continuity over remuneration and even enhanced career prospects when considering opportunities in WA.

“We’ve also noticed a drop off in the level of interest in lucrative [fly in, fly out] roles due to the disruption of family life,” he says.

Despite this observation, the Australian supply chain and logistics sectors continue to be impacted by the mining and resources boom, driving higher salaries in WA and the Northern Territory.

“There’s no doubt salaries in Australia’s west and north are still firmer than the east coast due to higher demand for a wide range of roles including supply chain, performance improvement, heavy transport, fleet utilisation, operations and finance,” Winter says.

A lack of specialist skills within the Australian workforce is also forcing companies to turn to the global labour market.

“To compete with the compensation packages offered throughout the mining and resources industry, many companies are offering career development opportunities, higher education, training packages, work-life balance benefits, even e-tags, sports club and gym memberships,” Winter says.

For the remainder of the 2012-13 financial Winter predicts an increase in demand for executives with 3PL, 4PL, business improvement and change management skills as many manufacturers and FMCG companies look to improve their business results.

“Indictaions are that salary levels will remain firm for distribution, warehousing, procurement and inventory positions and roles with commercial qualifications,” he says.

“Salary levels across the wider market will remain static on the west coast and in the north and soften to some degree in the east until the second quarter of next year when we expect the employment market to firm nationally.”

In the last 12 months Logistics Executive Recruitment made twice as many placements in finance and business improvement positions


Career & Salary Guide MARKET ANALYSIS


There’s a lot of speculation about Australia’s current and future economic fortunes. Much has been said in the board room, the media, at dinner

tables, cafes and bars about the lack of confidence we have in both the domestic and global economies. But are Australians too negative? Key business leaders and commentators agree many of the fundamentals of our economic base are in good shape by comparison to most of our trading partners and other countries.

This year’s 2012-13 Employment Market Survey, produced by leading recruitment firm Logistics Executive Recruitment (Logistics Executive) reveals well over the majority (69.63 percent) of Australian CEOs, directors, vice presidents and other management people surveyed

experienced stable or increased staff levels over the last 12 months. Last year’s survey shows significant optimism with 80.1 percent predicting this would be the case.

By contrast, the global group surveyed, predominantly in Asia, India and the Middle East, were more optimistic than the Australians. Eighty-six percent last year predicted their staff would either increase or remain constant. Interestingly, just 78 percent report this to have been the actual outcome 12 months later.

Meanwhile, this year 76.4 percent of Australians expect the status quo or growth in staffing levels in the next 12 months. They are just 10 percent less hopeful than their global counterparts, 85.6 percent of whom predict no change or growth.

Board roommovesSupply chain executives are optimistic about the future despite a diet of gloom from the media. But given rapid change and ongoing talent shortages, who is closer to the truth? Anna Game-Lopata investigates


These figures place Australians as a little less optimistic than last year, and less positive than their Asian counterparts. As we know, Asian and Middle Eastern countries have rapidly growing logistics industries. But could the Australian media be over-feeding our negative tendencies?

Logistics Executive’s fifth consecutive piece of global research the 2012-13 Employment Market Survey received responses from 2,830 middle and senior managers in 80 countries with the majority (78.6 percent) employed throughout Australasia, North and South East Asia, India and the Middle East. Sixty percent are employed in either supply chain, logistics, transport, procurement, inventory, distribution or warehousing. They represent 41 industries including third party logistics (3PL), fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), mining and resources, manufacturing, industrial, road and rail transport, oil and gas and freight forwarding among others.

Logistics Executive CEO and founder Kim Winter says the survey was conducted against the backdrop of wider economic troubles in Europe, with unemployment rates of between 10 and 25 percent in some countries, and ongoing recessionary conditions in the United States.

“There’s been a great deal of speculation about the effect of Europe and the US on the regions we do business

in so we’ve been very keen to find out just what the impact there has been,” he says.

With inflation near 2 percent, the lowest in 13 years, unemployment near 5 percent and real wage growth, conditions in Australia seem pretty good.

“Having spent most of the last six months between our Middle East businesses in Dubai, Singapore and Australia, I couldn’t help notice the comparisons of positive media stories in Asia and the Middle East compared to the doom and gloom in the Australian press,” Winter says.

“It is clear to me and many Australian executives I’ve spoken to that the current malaise has its origins more in thought than in fact. This year’s survey results support this view.”

However there are always challenges to be managed. When asked, executives indicate profitability is their

“Improving an organisation’s talent pool is a well-recognised element of the most successful companies.”


Career & Salary Guide MARKET ANALYSIS


main concern, followed by talent attraction and leadership development.

“Last year, the order of priority was customer satisfaction, productivity and leadership development suggesting commercial concerns and recognition of the need to attract talent to drive profitability has taken precedence under the prevailing economic conditions,” Winter observes.

“Continually improving an organisation’s talent pool is a well-recognised element of some of the world’s most successful companies, much the same as the most successful sports teams succeed through recruitment of top coaches and key players.”

Unfortunately, the survey shows a continuing difficulty recruiting supply chain talent.

Over the last 12 months in Australia, 64.3 percent say they had found it harder to hire the right people compared to 61.2 percent last year.

“Just 28.6 percent found it easier to recruit last year and the figure is much the same in this year’s survey,” Winter says.

“These results support the view of most employers that our industry continues to experience ongoing skills shortages across a wide range of vocations such as business transformation, change management, business development, distribution centre management, commercial management and financial roles.”

Although Australia’s supply chain management sector faces skills shortages, its employers are still the least likely to utilise overseas talent.

“The main constraints identified in order of priority include visa or work permit issues, followed by concerns about cultural fit and difficulty in evaluating candidates.,” Winter says.

This attitude towards overseas talent becomes increasingly worrying for Australia’s supply chain industry’s future given, as a general rule, overseas professionals are 10 percent better educated than we are.

Just 78.9 percent of survey respondents hold either postgraduate or undergraduate degrees or other levels of tertiary qualification.

“This percentage has been consistently about 10 percent lower than the wider global respondent sample since our surveys began in 2008,” Winter laments.

“It highlights a gap in educational levels in Australia compared to industry executives offshore and suggests the disadvantage we have against peers globally.

“The fact that Australia has dropped from number five slot up to 10 years ago to 20th position out of 133 in the World Economic Forum’s ranking for competitiveness and innovation could also be reflective of substandard education and should be a wake-up call to government and business leaders if we are to regain ground and maintain relevance with our higher-ranked global trading partners,” he argues.

The survey also contains clues from the employee perspective, as to possible reasons for recruitment difficulties.

“Over the last six years, the primary reason for

employees leaving organisations has been to seek a better salary,” Winter explains.

“This suggests jobseekers wishing to satisfy career aspirations as their priority are in many cases finding advancement too slow in coming at their current workplace. Possibly financial matters take precedent.”

Frustratingly for the ambitious in this category, the pace of salary increases has slowed considerably.

This year, 34 percent of respondents expecting a salary increase of between 0 to 2 percent received one. But of the 48 percent surveyed last year expecting a 3 to 5 percent salary increase, only 39 percent got one. Just 7 percent were rewarded with a 6 to 8 percent salary increase, even though 11 percent were expecting one.

Career advancement has ranked consistently as the second most common reason for leaving employment.

“Last year a lack of employer values ranked as the third key reason for leaving whereas this year a change of industry ranked in that position,” Winter says.

“While the survey does not ask which industry candidates are leaving for, there is strong evidence to support the view a significant proportion have successfully applied for roles in the mining and resources industry.”

When asked to identify the reasons why new employees joined their organisation, those surveyed listed career advancement, more money, job security and employer values as the four highest-ranking factors.

“This reflects last year’s survey except that this year job security ranks ahead of employer values. This tends to support the consistent feedback we have that an increasing number of employees are choosing to remain with their current employment compared to trends in previous years. This is due to the uncertainty around joining another company, an element of ‘better the devil you know than the one you don’t’, among other factors.”

Like many company movers and shakers, Winter warns it’s time for companies to see the writing on the wall and respond by building excellence into their teams now.

“What we’re seeing in Australia currently is significant change as many sectors of the economy undergo a major shift in the way they operate,” he says.

“This has a knock on effect across the wider supply chain employment market. One of the best examples of this is the mega-shift in the way the consumer products market is moving online, forever changing the way consumers behave. It’s having a massive effect on buying patterns, manufacturing, FMCG operations, warehousing, distribution, retailing and employment trends across all of these sectors.

“Over the last six years, the primary reason for employees leaving organisations has been to seek a better salary.”


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“We are noticing two distinct trends in the market from an employment perspective. On one hand, companies are interpreting the current market dynamics quickly, taking appropriate actions to get on the front foot, to ensure their survival by ensuring they have the appropriate executive team and adequately skilled staff to lead business direction. These organisations have been taking the hard decisions, actively replacing staff, often on professional outplacements programs, not suited for current conditions with the talent they require.

“Our outplacement business has increased three-fold in the last 12 months as employers adopt an ethical approach to transitioning employees out of their business, providing professional assistance including job search support, resume writing and interview technique support to those who are leaving their company,” Winder adds.

On the other hand, Winter observes many companies are failing to realise the magnitude of fundamental changes taking place.

“These companies tend be more traditional in structure and culture, they have typically prospered well with legacy business models in stable environments,” he says.

“Their executive teams are inexperienced at dealing with the pace and nature of generational change Australia and the world is undergoing.

“Businesses hesitate at their peril in times of rapid change.”

His view is reflected by Linfox CEO Michael Byrne speaking recently at a conference.

“There are three types of organisations,” Byrne asserts. “Those who make things happen, those who follow what’s happening and those who wonder what just happened.”

“Our industry continues to experience ongoing skills shortages across a wide range of vocations.”

GRAPHS

Which statement best applies to your business and hiring experiences over the past 12 months?

Please indicate the change in your company’s activities or growth this financial year compared to last year

it is becoming Harder to source/hire quality staff to meet the business demands

it is becoming eaSier to source/hire quality staff to meet the business demands

There has been NO CHaNGe in the past 12 months

increased decreased remained the same

“Data supplied by Logistics Executive Recruitment”

Documents

Supply Chain Review - 2012 Career and Salary Guide