Half of green workforce hit by pay freeze or cut

2009/10 difficult year, esp for consultants & public sector workers

Cutbacks continue to hamper pay and prospects for sustainability practitioners in the UK, according to the annual careers and salary benchmark report by Environment Analyst and recruitment specialist Allen & York. Some 52% of those surveyed were not awarded any pay rise over the last year, with around one in ten actually seeing their salaries cut.

The report is based on 17,000 recent candidate records on the books at Allen & York as well as 2,600 responses to an online survey which ran from July to September 2010. The results capture the experiences of a true cross-section of green collar workers, ranging from environmental consultancy directors and corporate sustainability managers to scientific officers and graduate trainees.

It is the second consecutive year during which a significantly high proportion of green professionals have experienced static or declining pay packets. However, it was not entirely doom and gloom, with those specialising in the renewables, corporate social responsibility and carbon strategy fields more likely to have received an above-average pay rise.

Bonus payment trends appear generally more subdued in 2009/10, with almost two thirds (63%) not receiving any bonus during the last twelve months, a significant increase over the previous year (54%).

Consultants & public sector 'green' workers hit hardest
Consultancy and public sector organisations were particularly hard hit in terms of cutbacks this year. Almost a third of those surveyed within consultancy/ advisory firms said the headcount of sustainability and environmental specialists employed within their organisation had declined, rising to 42% of respondents from UK government-funded bodies. Sustainability management teams in the corporate/ industrial sector were more likely to be growing (31.5%) than declining (22.5%), although the vast majority were stable in terms of staff numbers (46%).

Whilst acknowledging that 2009 was a “notoriously dire” year for British environmental consultancy firms, Paul Gosling – operations director at Allen & York – believes the tide is now beginning to turn. He noted that there are more “real positions becoming available as a result of companies changing their tack, requiring individuals with very specialist skills to fulfil their redefined offering”.

More than a quarter of consultancy survey participants said that the number of specialists employed by their organisation had actually increased over the last year, indicating a healthy body of environmental consultancies experiencing growth through 2010.

The vast majority of survey respondents generally felt that prospects going into 2011 were improving – with the exception being those in the public sector where 58% are anticipating further job cuts within their organisations.

The public sector is a major employer of environmental specialists in the UK, accounting for around 15% of the online survey respondents and more than 10% of Allen & York’s candidates. Defra, the government department for environment, food and rural affairs, and its agencies face a headcount reduction of up to 30% over the next five years as a result of government spending cuts. Meanwhile, the Environment Agency – the biggest public sector employer – is to make extensive cuts across its senior management, finance, science, and communications/HR teams – which could affect some 4,000 jobs by 2015.

Green jobs growth in some fields
In spite of almost two-fifths of survey respondents reporting that they felt job security across the sustainability sector was lower compared to a year ago, the majority (63%) felt prospects over the longer term (from 2011-2015) were still good or very good.

According to Allen & York's Paul Gosling, there are some exciting prospects on the horizon in spite of the challenges faced by the public sector. "Targets for renewable energy and the emerging technologies involved, offer new and diverse career opportunities. Achieving the UK government targets could provide £100 billion worth of investment opportunities and up to half a million jobs in the renewable energy sector alone by 2020," he says.

"Similarly, within the waste industry, a recent report published by Friends of the Earth suggests that ambitious targets to increase the amount of rubbish recycled in the UK could help create more than 50,000 new jobs," Gosling adds.

• 2010 Sustainability Professionals Careers and Salary Benchmark Report is a 73 page report containing more than 90 charts and tables enabling organisations to accurately benchmark their pay scales, pay rises, bonus payments and benefits packages against their peers. The full report is available to download, £371+VAT (£278+VAT for EA Market Intelligence Service Subscribers) - see http://environment-analyst.com/survey

• Globalisation and specialist roles help drive green jobs out of recession is a FREE feature article available for download looking at some of the trends identified in the full report - see http://www.environment-analyst.com/sample

• Careers & Salary Benchmark study
• FREE survey report and research preview
• EA and A&Y press release