Employers pay for leadership skills

"I WOULD reject 30% as being too high," said Lee Botti of Lee Botti & Associates talking about such salary demands in the industry being reported to FTW. This comment is based on the results of the agency's just-released bi-annual salary survey of 36 major companies in the industry - the 10th in the last 17 years. This authoritative indication of salary trends in the whole freight industry sector reveals only a few areas where above-average increases are being recorded. "As far as this information goes, overall increases at the level of 30% are not justified," said Botti. "Just take one example. In the survey we found that clerical workers have had increases of 20-22%. But that's compounded over the two years." Among the other significant findings of the survey was executives being paid "fairly highly" in all four regions, according to Botti. "This definitely emphasises the importance of a leadership role in companies in the industry," she said. Car allowances for executives, managers and sales staff have also risen considerably according to the survey. "Probably due to employees choosing the best packages from a tax benefit point-of-view," said Botti. The indication is also a sizeable increase in salaries for controllers. "This is linked to more personal service for key accounts and the emphasis on the person-to-person aspect," said Botti. Surprisingly, the Eastern Cape was paying higher salaries than initially expected. "But again this is purely related to supply and demand due to the growth in that region - an area which has seen its motor vehicle trade developing fast in recent times." "I can't see anything in this extensive survey of ours that would justify demands for 30% increases," said Botti.