Study shows modest adjustments to salaries and wages, but a significant increase in employee benefits and perks.
July 4, 2011, VANCOUVER, BC – go2 - BC’s tourism and hospitality human resource association - is pleased to announce the release of the 2010 Canadian Tourism Sector Compensation Study Report.
The study, commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) and conducted by the Hay Group, attracted nearly 2,000 organizations to participate across Canada, with over 350 participants from British Columbia. It shows current trends on wages and salaries for 31 tourism and hospitality occupations, ranging from front line to senior management, as well as information on gratuity practices, benefits and attraction and retention trends.
The industry saw a significant increase in wages and salaries from 2005 to 2008, but since the economic downturn in late 2008, there have been only modest increases in overall compensation for tourism employees. Most occupations, salaried or hourly wage positions, either received no increase in compensation, or very small increases. Other key findings include:
- Average wages and salaries were higher in BC than the national average for all but seven occupations.
- Examples of average annual total cash reported for management positions in BC: Accommodations Service Managers, $42,750; Director of Sales and Marketing, $72,250; Executive Chef, $60,400; Executive Housekeeper, $43,000; Hotel General Manager, $67,500; Restaurant and Food Services Manager, $45,300.
- Examples of average hourly total cash reported for front-line positions in BC: Cook, $13.44; Food counter attendant and kitchen helper, $10.25; Front Desk Agent, $13.28; Heritage Interpreter, $16.69; Housekeeping Room Attendant, $12.50; Outdoor Adventure Guide, $15.91; Tour Guide, $13.57.
- More organizations offered benefits than in previous years’ studies. The most common benefits programs were group health/dental insurance, employee/dependent life insurance, and long term disability.
- Tourism organizations have also increased the provision of employee perks, special programs and work arrangements such as employee discounts, association memberships, flex time, and training and development opportunities. On average, BC employers offered 5.5 employee perks and work arrangements, which is above the national average of 5.1, and second only to Alberta’s 6.6.
The report also identifies one of the major human resource challenges faced by industry: high voluntary turnover. The national voluntary turnover rate of all employees, including part-time and seasonal employees, was 26.1%. This is notably higher than the national average of 9.1% for all private sector businesses. One explanation for the difference between the tourism sector and the economy overall is the large proportion of youth employed in the tourism sector who are still attending school. The voluntary turnover rate of full-time tourism employees was 18.6%.
Arlene Keis, go2’s CEO, believes these findings offer great insight to employers and help them to stay competitive in this labour market environment. “Not only is our industry facing a higher turnover rate than other sectors, but we also have to deal with the looming labour shortages and competition from Alberta and other provinces. This report should serve as a reminder to tourism employers that in addition to competitive wages and salaries, they should also use best human resource practices to recruit and retain the people they need.”
The full study is available for download on the go2 website. Click here for a summary table of the industry-wide averages in BC.
About go2
go2 is BC’s tourism and hospitality human resource association responsible for coordinating the Tourism Human Resource Action Plan, a key component of the industry’s growth strategy. Tourism is one of the largest resource industries in BC comprising 18,000 mostly small to medium-sized businesses which directly employ over 129,000 British Columbians. For more information, visit www.go2hr.ca.
Media Contact:
Joyce Lam, go2
604-633-9787 x227
jlam@go2hr.ca
