E-PAY
IDS fills the salary survey gap in e-commerce
Demand for e-commerce specialists in the burgeoning UK internet economy is escalating. But there is something of a dearth of high-quality information on pay rates in e-commerce ventures. To fill the information gap, pay analysts Incomes Data Services has undertaken some timely research.
Share options confined to senior staff in large companies
While it is an area renowned for a paucity of information, the commonly-held view is that these online businesses do much to nurture the financial side of their relationships with employees by giving staff a direct stake in the success or otherwise of the company. Today's dot-coms are said to offer all recruits potentially lucrative share options — not just the management elite as in more established organisations.
But what emerges clearly from the IDS research is that while the smaller web companies do in fact offer share options at quite junior levels — because these companies just cannot afford to offer generous salaries — in larger companies, which have venture capital backing, share options tend to be reserved for those earning in excess of £ 60,000.
Online staff slotted into existing pay structures
According to the IDS research, when it comes to base pay management, it seems that many established companies are fitting online jobs into their existing grading structures, rather than setting up new structures exclusively for these groups.
One practitioner explained that setting up a separate pay structure for e-commerce specialists was not a realistic approach: Firstly, e-commerce jobs are now found in most departments, for example marketing, logistics, buying and sales. Secondly, in the future, many jobs would develop to include an e-commerce element.
Other key IDS findings:
skills in demand are java, C++, html and visual basic
to counteract widespread poaching, some employers are offering retention bonuses
many businesses are offering training to stop their staff deserting, and opportunities to cross train are often advertised as part of the remuneration package.
Practitioners and researchers are pleased for any new source of data in an area where, up to now, so little information is available. So, check out this report.
Survey details
Title: e-recruitment explosion , IDS Management Pay Review, April 2000.
Methodology: based on interviews with companies and recruitment specialists, along with an analysis of advertised salary data for over 200 posts.
The three-page report includes basic salary data for eight job titles:
technical architect
e-commerce security specialist
e-commerce consultants/project manager
editor
senior web designer
web developer/producer
programmer
web designer
Availability: contact Incomes Data Services in London, tel: 020 7250 3434.
Want to know more? IDS is an independent research organisation providing information and analysis on pay, conditions, pensions, employment law and personnel policy and practice in the UK and rest of Europe.
For more details about IDS, jump to . . . www.incomesdata.co.uk