average salary is probably higher than
other chains taking into account the
fact that many of their staff won’t be
working in central London. When we
do the comparison with Waterstone’s
and Blackwell’s London figures, our
pay rates are broadly the same.”
Figures from research company
Incomes Data Services show that as
at 1st July 2007, a Blackwell retail
employee at sales assistant level was
being paid between £5.52 and £6.88
per hour depending on grade. A
branch manager on the lowest grade
could expect to be paid between
£15,760 and £18,910, while those on
the highest grade could expect to
receive between £26,265 and £42,024
per annum. Waterstone’s shop floor
staff, meanwhile, were being paid
between £5.52 (probationary level)
and £7.15 an hour at “lead bookseller”
level, as at 1st May 2007. The IDS
data shows that an assistant manager
at Waterstone’s could receive anywhere
between £14,300 and £23,750,
and a branch manager between
£20,398 and £45,100. The differences
in pay rates will depend on the size
and location of a store and seniority
of an individual.
When it comes to salaries in the
library services sector, the average
pay was found to be £24,090. Michael
Martin from CILIP says that its own
Life at Work survey published in 2007
found the average salary in the sector
was slightly higher at £26,500.
Low salaries
David Thew, director of recruitment
consultancy Intelligent Resources,
says he often hears the comment
“it’s publishing, isn’t it” as a justification
for low industry salaries. “My
response to that is that these companies
aren’t making small amounts
of money and they are not paying
their chief executive small amounts
of money. The number of publishers
that still think it is right not to
pay commission to a sales person is
amazing—a good sales person will
sell more if you pay them [properly].”
Thew mostly recruits for sales,
marketing and product development
roles, and says that publishers
are increasingly trying to recruit for
online sales roles. This is reportedly
an area in which the candidate pool
is tight and potential recruits have
certain expectations. “[Publishers]
looking for a good sales person to sell
online product in mainland Europe
are going to be looking at the same
candidate pool as [the likes of] Thomson
Scientific, and the candidates will
have expectations on the salary and
remuneration levels,” Thew explains.
He says publishers are often reluctant
to offer the higher salaries that
specialist sales roles can command.
THE BOOKSELLER SALARY AND BENEFITS SURVEY 2008
One reason for this is that it would
mean restructuring all of the salaries
in their sales team. “There are
times when you think that is a bullet
that you have to bite. If you start [at
a lower point], those staff will always
be looking over their shoulder and
thinking there’s an interesting role
over there that has the chance for
better commission.”
Human resource consultancy
Mercer reviewed the data gathered
in the survey on pay, and noted that
the roles paying the higher salaries
of between £40,000 and £60,000, and
£60,000 and above, were often in IT,
accounting and sales.
David Conroy, a principal at Mercer,
says: “This reflects market
practice, as these are the jobs that
organisations are having most difficulty
attracting and retaining, and
whose skills are highly priced in the
market.” He adds that the lower salaries
for those who describe their role
as being within bookselling is consistent
with frontline customer-facing
roles in other industries, such as hospitality
and retail.
However, Djonokusumo definitely
thinks that, in the publishing sector
at least, salaries have improved in
recent years. “In 2000, starting salaries
were around £14,000 to £15,000,
and that would have been set in stone.
A couple of years ago, [the industry]
started to compare itself to others,
and starting salaries did get a big
bump up to an average of £17,000.”
She says that in recent times, the
lowest starting salary she has seen
was for an editorial role at £15,000.
“The highest [starting salary] I have
found was £20,000.” Typically, salaries
in journals, science, technical
and medical (STM) and professional
publishing offer higher salaries
across the board because recruits
are usually required to have a certain
degree or experience.
The benefits package
When it comes to benefits, there is a
wide range on offer throughout the
publishing, bookselling and library
services sectors. The number one
benefit for both booksellers and the
publishing industry was found to be
free or subsidised books—a benefit
that does not greatly impress Thew.
“I’m sure it’s great if you have got a
gallery library to put them all in,” he
says. Other benefits noted included
bonuses, flexible working hours and
generous holidays, which was the top
benefit for the library services sector.
Conroy from Mercer says that the
sector as a whole appears to provide a
similar range of benefits that he sees
elsewhere, including life assurance,
private medical cover and subsidised
gym memberships. He adds that
“Sadly,
[salary levels]
probably are
sustainable
as is, because
it is always
going to be
hugely oversubscribed
and there will
always be
people who
are able to
work for
nothing”
Emma
Djonokusumo,
senior consultant,
JFL Search &
Selection
while pension schemes on offer vary
in type, overall they are indicative of
the general trend for UK employers
to move away from defined benefit
(final salary) schemes. However, 59%
of respondents from the library sector
said they were part of a final salary
scheme—most likely those in the
public sector working within schools
or government departments. Only
22% of respondents in the bookselling
sector are a member of any type
of company pension scheme.
Foyles’ Roger Parks says the
company offers access to a non-contributory
(apart from senior grades)
stakeholder plan, and acknowledges
that take up is low. “More than 90% of
[our employees are] graduates and
half have, or are studying for, second
degrees. Most will have student
loans and after they have lived and
repaid the student loans, they can’t
really afford to do much more.”
Djonokusumo says that, in her
experience, the benefits offered by
larger publishers are often wider
ranging than those offered by smaller
independents. “The best company
we found pays up to 9% as a pension
contribution. With holidays, the best
I’ve seen was 21 days increasing by
one each year to a maximum of 30,
while other companies start at 20
going up to 25.”
But benefits aren’t seen as hugely
important by employees in the book
sector, Thew says. “Once in a while
you will get someone who adds up
the benefits and says they have a
cash equivalent of X, but usually people
are looking at salary and those
benefits that would otherwise cost
them money.”
A sustainable model?
The big question is whether salaries
within the book industry as a whole
will ever improve. Djonokusumo is
not optimistic. “Sadly, [salary levels]
probably are sustainable as
is, because it is always going to be
hugely over-subscribed and there
will always be people who are able
to work for nothing and who can get
financial backing from their family.
Until publishing finds it hard to
recruit people, it doesn’t necessarily
need to offer a bigger incentive financially,
which is a shame.”
Greig at Bradt, meanwhile, says
salaries are not going to increase
until higher pricing is introduced for
the end product. “Salaries are never
going to be as high as they are in
other industries until there is a greater
value placed on intellectual property.
It is the curse of the industry
that one wants to promote literature
and make the written word as accessible
as possible, and therefore one
doesn’t want to price highly.”
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.