Banking sector offers highest paying jobs: Survey

JAKARTA (JP): Executives in the banking sector, particularly in foreign banks, are the highest paid professionals in Indonesia, with an annual income of up to Rp 350 million (about US$37,235 at the exchange current rate), according to the latest survey issued by human resources consultant firm PT Watson Wyatt Purbajaga.

Professionals working in companies involved in information technology are the second highest paid with an annual income of up to Rp 300 million.

PT Watson Wyatt Purbajaga said in its compensation and benefits survey 2000 that foreign banks offered their directors up to Rp 350 million a year, compared to the maximum Rp 300 million earned in the IT sector.

For a similar position in other industries, such as construction, finance, oil and gas, insurance and shipping, salaries come in third with total cash payments of between Rp 250 million and Rp 300 million, the survey says.

While consumer products companies offer annual salaries of between Rp 200 million and Rp 250 million for directors.

Directors at pharmaceutical companies earn between Rp 150 million and Rp 200 million, the survey says.

Watson Wyatt included 90 companies from four different industries in its survey, the result of which was presented during the company's client meeting on Friday.

Based on the survey, managers in foreign banks earn the highest annual salaries of between Rp 150 million and Rp 250 million, followed by the IT sector with Rp 100 million to Rp 200 million.

Managers' annual salaries in other industries reach about Rp 70 million to about Rp 160 million, the survey says.

While consumer products companies, it says, offer their managers between Rp 50 million and Rp 120 million.

The highest increase in salary was recorded in the IT sector, which this year rose by 20 percent, according to the survey.

Consumer products companies raised their salaries by 17.8 percent this year, followed by pharmaceutical companies with 16.7 percent and foreign banks with only 12 percent.

Watson Wyatt further predicted that the IT sector would remain the fastest growing sector, with a salary increase of 20.11 percent next year, followed by consumer products companies with 16.40 percent.

Salaries at pharmaceutical companies and foreign banks are estimated to grow by 14.60 percent and 11 percent respectively, according to the consultant.

By employee category, salaries for nonclerical positions this year rose 24.45 percent, followed by clerical positions with 23.65 percent.

During the same period, managers and directors recorded an increase of 20.20 percent and 19.38 percent respectively.

Management

Watson Wyatt president Lilis Halim said that human resources management in Indonesia mainly stayed traditional, as the adaption of a more advanced approach failed to pick up this year.

For instance, she said, she had expected a wider use of stock options by financially strapped companies this year.

Lilis said that traditional human resources management based their salary systems on employee structural positions and the accordant salary level in the market.

While the more advanced approach identified the key accountabilities within a certain position, then searched for the person with the right skills in the market, she explained.

Lilis also said that more local companies were now using the services of human resources consultants to help prevent conflicts with employees before they occur.

"Our previous business was mainly focused on helping foreign companies here, but now we also help local companies," she said in an interview.

She said that because of greater awareness among local companies, Watson Wyatt's business had grown faster since the economic crisis.

According to her, the company has grown an average of 40 percent since 1997, compared with between 20 percent and 30 percent the previous year.

Local companies, she said, sought the help of one of four major human resources companies in Jakarta.

Most firms that seek the help of a consultant employ many workers, such as textile or manufacturing companies, she said.

But to stave off conflicts with employees, the best a company could do was improve communication between workers and management, Lilis explained.

She said that one of her clients, a consumer product company with three factories in West Java, wanted to prevent the possibility of a strike by holding an employee opinion survey.

"They wanted to know their employees' expectations, and how management could meet met them, and generally create a better working environment," she said.

The outcome of the survey, she said, could then be used to identify problems and seek a remedy before they become unmanageable.

But the consequence of conducting a survey, she added, was that the company's management must follow up on the results, because employees might otherwise feel cheated.

"Whether the outcome is good or bad, management must implement a solution, otherwise matters will only get worse," she said.

Lilis further said that not all companies needed consultants to conduct a survey. But employees often felt more secure if their answers were read by people outside the company's managerial staff, she added.

Since the downfall of former president Soeharto in 1998, local and foreign companies alike have frequent disputes with their employees.

The reform euphoria that followed led labor unions to thrive.

But Lilis suspected that the widespread conflicts involving employees of mining firms were largely politically driven.

According to her, most foreign mining firms practice good industrial relations, which is the relation between workers and management.

"They (mining firms) have good communication programs and activities for the employees, so that these conflicts should not have happened," she explained.