It’s that time of year again – the Frontline Retail Annual ‘Retail Salary Guide’. Included in the Newsletter is a dedicated insert with all salary information taken from or annual survey of retail salaries across Australia.
This year, the Salary Guide was based on 6,897 randomly selected retail candidates. These candidates applied for retail positions with Frontline Retail over the last twelve months.
The salary figures are based on actual salaries for candidates who have been placed during this time and candidates’ salaries in their position prior to being interviewed by Frontline Retail.
FEATURES OF THE 2006 SURVEY
• Sydney, Perth and Newcastle all experienced growth in salaries in all positions.
• Perth has shown significant increase in salaries for both Store Managers & Assistant Managers who are now more in line with Brisbane salaries
• Adelaide, Darwin & Brisbane salaries remained relatively stagnant with minimal increases on the prior year
• This is the fourth consecutive year Brisbane Salary levels exceeded those in Melbourne. Brisbane Store Managers saw a greater increase than either Sydney or Melbourne however, that trend did not follow through to Assistant Managers.
• Sydney retailers are still paid more than their counterparts are in rest of Australia. This is not surprising given the higher cost of living in Sydney and the level of the current candidate shortage. Sydney is followed in order by Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle, and Darwin.
ABOUT THE GUIDE
This is the tenth Annual Retail Salary Guide Frontline Retail has published. In 1997, Frontline Retail surveyed salaries paid by small Speciality Retailers in Sydney only and slowly expanded the survey over the years to include Speciality Retailers, Department Stores and turnover categories in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle and Darwin.
EXECUTIVE POSITIONS
As with previous years, we have omitted the Executive Salary Guide, which includes salaries for positions above the Store Manager level. A separate “Executive Salary Guide” will be published by Frontline Retail and will include salaries for executive level appointments in retail.
UNDERSTANDING THE GUIDE
To provide usable data for each position we have indicated the “Average” salary, and a salary “Range” for each level surveyed. The “Range” indicates the typical salary bracket, which is being paid in the marketplace for each position and level within that position.
The higher end of the range is determined by adding the “Standard Deviation” (see explanation further in article) of the surveyed salaries for each level to the “Average” for that level and the standard deviation is subtracted from the “Average” for the lower end of the range.
It is important to note that each salary “Range” does not represent the highest and lowest salaries for each group, as this would alter the ranges dramatically. For example, one candidate in the survey, an Assistant Store Manager in the $3 to $4 million-dollar level is paid substantially higher than other Assistant Store Managers at the same level. The circumstances surrounding this are quite out of the ordinary and it is considered to be misleading to include these types of anomalies in the Guide.
In order to deal with large deviations from the average and provide realistic figures for the salary “Range” for each level, we have used the statistical function of “Standard Deviation”.
STANDARD DEVIATION
Standard deviation is commonly used in surveys and is recognised as an effective method for averaging ranges in large samples, it works like this:
In a set of numbers the “simple deviation” of a particular number is the difference between that number and the average of the set.
The variance of the set is the average of the square deviations of all the numbers in the set. Finally, the standard deviation is the square root of the variance.
In the Salary Guide, if the figure for the standard deviation is small, that means that most of the surveyed salaries for that level were close to average; if it is large, the salaries are widely scattered. In the Salary Guide we have indicated the standard deviation in dollar terms beside each average for the position and level.
An analysis of the guide shows that the values of the deviations tend to increase as the average salary increases—this is especially prevalent in the $5 to $10 million-dollar brackets for both Store and Assistant Managers.
IMPORTANT POINTS
• The figures in the Survey are gained from real salaries and provide a reflection of what the Retail employment market is actually paying.
• The surveyed group includes Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, and Darwin, and regional centres such as Wollongong and Newcastle.
• The figures are not related to any State or Federal Award.
• The figures include superannuation at the rate of 9%.
• Frontline Retail uses these figures as a guide when advising Clients and Candidates on salary levels.
• In the case of salary packages, where a car or car allowance is included (in the groups surveyed a car allowance is rare), we have not included the value of the car or allowance in the salary figure in the Guide.
• Performance based bonuses are generally on offer for all levels of management and are excluded from these packages.
• As a general trend the more senior the position, the higher the deviation.
We trust the 2006 Retail Salary Guide is useful and all enquiries are welcome. Please contact your Frontline Retail consultant should you require any additional information.