OH professionals happy with pay, despite unpaid overtime

Occupational health professionals are reporting high levels of satisfaction with their overall pay package, although long hours are common and overtime pay is rare, according to a recent IRS survey of attitudes in the industry.

Occupational health (OH) professionals received pay rises worth 3% at the median over the year to August 2006, in line with the whole-economy increase recorded by IRS over the same period, new research from IRS reveals¹. But OH professionals continue to enjoy salary rates well above the average for all workers, and consequently register high levels of satisfaction with their pay package.

These are among the findings of the fifth biennial survey of pay and benefits in the OH field. Based on responses from 321 OH professionals, the survey provides detailed information on the salaries, pay rises, hours, holidays and benefits packages of the key occupational groups in the field.

OH salaries above national norm

The survey reveals that the median salary - the midpoint in the range - for an OH professional is £35,000 a year (see chart 1), with an interquartile range of £26,550 to £42,000. In contrast, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2006 finds that median gross weekly earnings for full-time staff across the whole economy stand at £447.10, equivalent to £23,249 per year. The median salary among our survey respondents is therefore 50.5% above the national median. In addition, the vast majority (92.9%) of survey respondents earn above the national median.

But these headline findings mask several differences revealed by more detailed breakdowns of OH professionals' pay (by occupation, years in post, qualifications held, UK region, sector and gender).

Occupational hygienists are highest paid

The survey looks at salaries and benefits across three key occupational groups: health and safety practitioners; OH nurses; and occupational hygienists. At the top of the OH pay league are occupational hygienists, whose median annual salary of £36,416 is 4% above the £35,000 median for the sector as a whole. Health and safety practitioners are the next highest-paid group, earning a median salary of £33,000 a year, followed by OH nurses at £32,490. Median salaries for the latter two groups are pitched at 6.1% and 7.7% below the sector norm, respectively.

This picture changes markedly when length of time in the profession is taken into account. The survey results group respondents into three distinct time bands: up to four years since qualification; five to 14 years since qualification; and more than 15 years since qualification. Among those notching up more than 15 years' experience in the field, occupational hygienists are the lowest paid (£37,476), outperformed by health and safety practitioners (£40,881) and OH nurses (£42,000). Across the whole sample, experienced staff earn significantly more than their newly qualified colleagues. OH professionals can expect to earn £28,010 at the median over their first four years from qualification, rising to £34,100 between five and 14 years, and £40,000 for more than 15 years.

Respondents were asked which work-related qualifications they hold. A comparison reveals that qualifications tend to result in higher salaries. A respondent with an OH degree can expect to earn a median of £33,000, while those with a master's degree earn £37,250. Median earnings are pitched at £32,195 for those holding a National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) certificate - the most common qualification among health and safety practitioners - compared with £36,500 for a NEBOSH diploma.

Regional variations found

Broken down by four broad geographic regions, OH professionals in London and the south-east are the highest paid, with a median salary of £38,000 - 8.6% above the OH sector median. In the south-west, Wales and Northern Ireland region, salaries are worth £34,000 at the median, the same as salaries in the north and Scotland. The lowest-paying region is East Anglia and the Midlands, 9.4% below the national median, at £32,000.

This pattern is repeated among private sector respondents, with London and the south-east registering the highest median salary, at £38,500, 14% above the median for all private sector OH staff. In the public sector, however, the south-west, Wales and Northern Ireland region falls to the bottom of the pay league, with a median salary of £29,950.

Public-private earnings gap narrows

While OH pay varies widely by occupational group and region, the gap between pay levels for private sector OH professionals and their public sector equivalents has narrowed considerably, all but disappearing in the year to August 2006. The median private sector salary is £33,764, just 0.4% above the public sector median of £33,646. This compares with a 5.5% difference in favour of the private sector recorded in the previous survey (see Health salaries in the OH profession).

By occupational group, private sector occupational hygienists' median earnings are pitched 1% above the public sector rate (see chart 1). But this pattern is reversed for health and safety practitioners and OH nurses, with public sector medians for these groups outperforming those in the private sector by 2% and 1.9% respectively.

Private sector OH staff happiest with pay

An analysis of OH professionals' levels of satisfaction with the total value of their remuneration package reveals another sectoral divide. More than half (51%) of private sector employees report that they are satisfied with their pay, compared with around one-third (36%) in the public sector.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, across the whole sample, a direct correlation can be seen between salary level and satisfaction with pay. More than three-fifths (61%) of those earning more than the median salary of £35,000 express satisfaction with their remuneration, compared with just over one-third (36%) among those paid less than £35,000.

Almost half (48%) of all OH professionals are satisfied with their pay, while one-fifth (19%) are dissatisfied. Male OH workers are slightly more likely to be satisfied with their pay than their female counterparts (47% and 43%, respectively).

Gender pay gap runs at 11.6%

The survey reveals a pay gap of 11.6% among OH professionals, based on a median annual salary of £37,100 for male respondents and £32,795 for females (see table 1). This represents a significant disparity, but is below the 17.2% recorded for the whole economy by ASHE 2006 (using mean full-time hourly earnings). It is around half the 23% gender pay gap recorded in IRS's previous OH pay survey. The 2006 survey reveals a wider disparity between the public and private sectors. The private sector gender pay gap is 14.1%, compared with a more modest 6.9% in the public sector. By occupation, pay gaps range from 1.6% for health and safety practitioners to 9.8% for OH nurses.

Pay awards linked to inflation

The median pay rise in the OH sector was in line with the whole-economy award recorded by IRS for the year to August 2006, at 3%. Around one-third (31%) of OH professionals report that their latest pay rise was in some way linked to inflation, with this variable being particularly widely used in the public sector (39%). Just under a quarter (23%) of respondents say that their individual performance had an influence on their pay increase, rising to 33% of those in the private sector. Group performance, market comparisons and length of service were each mentioned by one in eight OH professionals (12%).

For more than two-fifths (41%) of respondents, the level of pay award was imposed by their employer. One in four (27%) were subject to a collectively negotiated award, while a further 17% conducted negotiations on their pay rise themselves, and 15% received a national pay body award.

Additional payments worth 5.7% of salary

As in the previous survey, additional payments on top of basic salary, including overtime, performance bonuses and incentive payments, remain something of a minority practice, with less than one-third (30%) of OH professionals receiving such a payment (see table 2). OH professionals participating in such schemes can expect to boost their earnings by an additional £2,000 a year, equivalent to 5.7% of the median annual salary of £35,000. Analysed by sector, additional payments are both more common and pitched at a higher level for private sector respondents. Nearly half (47%) of private sector respondents top up their salaries in this way, compared with just one-tenth (10%) of public sector workers. The median value of payments runs at £2,000 for private sector OH professionals, nearly three times the public sector median (£700).

Bonuses linked to individual or company performance are the most common sources of additional payments, each cited by around one in eight respondents (12%). The range of company bonus awards runs from £250 to £20,000, while the median payment stands at £2,400. Individual performance-related schemes pay a median £1,800, and a narrower range of awards, from £50 to £15,000. A further 11% of survey respondents participate in a company profit scheme, delivering a median payout worth £2,500.

Mobile phones top benefits list

Respondents were asked what benefits they receive from a list of nine options (see table 3). The most popular benefits for OH professionals are a mobile phone (received by 37% of respondents); a company car or car allowance (28%); and private medical insurance (26%). These are followed by a long-service award (cited by 14%) and a company share scheme (11%). Broken down by sector, the most popular benefit for private sector respondents is private medical insurance, received by 45% of OH professionals, compared with only 3% in the public sector.

Levels of overtime high

Elsewhere in the survey, the high levels of overtime worked by OH professionals are revealed. Survey respondents are contracted to work a median 37 hours, but 73% had worked in excess of their contracted hours over the previous four weeks. One in six (16%) worked, on average, more than 48 hours per week, while one respondent said they had worked 74 hours per week on average, double their contracted amount.

But while long hours are common, paid overtime is not. Only 7% of our sample receive overtime payments, worth a median £1,000 per year.

OH professionals do, however, benefit from a leave entitlement that is above the norm, at a median 26 days' leave each year, in addition to bank and public holidays. This compares with a whole-economy median of 25 days recorded in separate IRS research from 2005 (see Time out: annual leave). Public sector OH specialists enjoy 30 days' median annual leave, compared with 25 days for their private sector counterparts.

Final-salary pensions remain popular

Among the 192 survey respondents providing details of their occupational pension scheme, 60% report that they are members of a final-salary scheme. A further 28% have either a defined-contribution pension or a personal pension into which their employer makes contributions, while just 8% have a stakeholder pension.

This article was written by Michael Carty, researcher and writer, IRS Employment Review, michael.carty@rbi.co.uk.

Table 1: OH pay by gender, August 2006

Source: "Occupational Health Review".

Table 2: Additional payments for OH professionals, August 2006

Source: "Occupational Health Review".

Table 3A: Percentage of respondents in receipt of benefits packages, August 2006

Table 3B: Percentage of respondents in receipt of benefits packages, August 2006

Table 3C: Percentage of respondents in receipt of benefits packages, August 2006

Source: "Occupational Health Review".

¹The complete findings of the survey, undertaken in conjunction with IRS journal Occupational Health Review (OHR), Occupational Health and the British Occupational Hygiene Society, can be found in the November/December 2006 issue of OHR.

Occupational Health Review is published six times a year. Further information about subscriptions is available from customer services, tel: 0845 675 0001.