Martin Westcott, MD of P-E Corporate Services, speaks to Margaret Harris about salaries and retaining staff

How does P-E Corporate Services attract top talent?

Our normal target is to hire graduates with five to 10 years' experience in the specialist field in which they will work. Wherever possible we seek graduates with post-graduate qualifications, such as honours or MBA. As far as attracting and attaining top talent is concerned, we are fortunate in that our staff turnover has averaged well below 5% a year for the past 15 years. However, when it is necessary to staff up, we have two main avenues - selective head-hunting and responses to the many approaches we receive from experienced people who would like to embark on a career in consulting. We occasionally advertise a position.

We look for mature individuals with a strong work ethic who are prepared to work flexibly and to travel throughout South Africa and Africa. Important personality traits include being open and balanced (that is, neither too introvert nor extrovert) plus the ability to express themselves clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing. Our consultants work at client premises and at an office and/or home. We manage our staff based on results and their individual and business unit performance against targets and key performance areas. Consulting can be very demanding and deadline driven, which means working unusual hours from time to time. However, this is compensated for by a high level of job satisfaction .

Remuneration and salary structuring are important in motivating and retaining skills. Our consultants are paid a market-related package plus the opportunity to earn incentive pay. This is linked directly to individual, business unit and corporate performance. The direct line of sight between performance and reward has, in our experience, a strong motivational impact. We also offer staff who have proved themselves the opportunity to acquire equity in the company. In line with industry practice we also employ a number of associate professionals who are typically remunerated flexibly, based on fee income generated and/or earned. Such contracts may be negotiated on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. But no pay package alone will guarantee staff retention in South Africa's skills-strapped market. However, the satisfaction that flows from a reward structure that is strongly aligned with performance helps to keep turnover at a minimum. We also work hard at maintaining a supportive work environment and entrepreneurial culture in which mutual respect takes priority. This tends to keep politics at a minimum and ensures that energy is focused on customers.

Yes, our most recent surveys indicate that increases are exceeding rates of inflation by around 2%. Companies find themselves in a dilemma in this regard. Cost containment remains critical to competitive edge, yet it has become essential to reward employees who in many cases have had to accept minimal increases over the past year or two. Skills shortages and union demands create additional pressures in a situation in which bargaining units are in many cases pressing for increases of 10%-20%. These are often driven by the knowledge that the wage gap (the gap between lowest and highest earners in the organisation) in South Africa has rocketed over the past decade.

Expatriate packages are usually set at a higher level than local staff since the expatriate package will, besides cost-of-living adjustments, incorporate transfer and hardship allowances and incentives for the inconvenience of uprooting and moving to a new country. However, the determination of expatriate pay has become more scientific and packages are increasingly computed with reference to pay scales for the position in the expatriates' home or host countries, adjusted by well researched cost-of-living differentials and allowances.