Sanchia Temkin
27 August 2008
Johannesburg — HIGHLY skilled black professionals are not paid excessively more than their white counterparts, says a leading executive search firm.
There is no difference between the salary packages of men and women candidates at senior management levels, according to research by Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters.
Madge Gibson, a partner at the firm , said yesterday that overblown packages for black professionals were becoming an "urban legend".
"The majority of our clients use a salary band structure that, depending on the role for which the candidate is being considered, determines the size and nature of the package offered to the potential employee," Gibson said.
"This way, no individual employee's salary can deviate too radically from the parameters of the salary band in which they fall."
Gibson said that, from a human resources point of view, salary bands tended to maintain the equilibrium in a company's structure.
"Employers are extremely reluctant to disrupt this balance by making significantly disproportionate offers to secure a strong black candidate," she said.
Jack Hammer is one of SA's top three executive search firms. Most of its business is in the financial services sector, where individuals in the R1m-plus salary bracket are head-hunted.
Gibson said that rumours of an employee's unfairly inflated salary could spark serious dissatisfaction among staff.
However, Martin Westcott, MD of P-E Corporate Services, which monitors pay and working conditions at more than 800 companies in SA, said companies were still paying a premium for black executives.
"It was true that the implementation of BEE was no longer the biggest concern to South African companies. The national priority was the skills shortage.
"However, listed companies and many private companies still put a high value on recruiting and retaining black professionals," Westcott said.
A recent study by the consultancy found that just under 25% of senior management posts were held by black executives.
Willem Verwey, a senior manager at Total Reward within Deloitte Human Capital, said that companies were still paying a high premium for black executives such as chartered accountants as there was a shortage of their skills.
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