Where Is Club Management Remuneration Going?

I said in my 2023 report “dramatic shortage of staff in the last 12 months it was somewhat difficult to get a real feel as to where salaries were going in the club industry” nothing much has changed. Every year DWS receives several requests for guidance on senior management salaries as our industry continue to play a bigger role in the Queensland hospitality space, also over the last 18 months DWS has conducted many senior recruitment assignments which has given us a clear insight into candidates expectations and what clubs are prepared to pay to get the right people.

The figures in the guide include superannuation and other benefits which may be applicable particularly in the case of CEOs and GM’s, I wrote an article in DWS newsletter back in October 2021, where I projected that rapid inflation that we are starting to experience will impact on our costs and salaries, whilst the current overall level of inflation is falling however it is not manifesting itself in many businesses today, particularly industries like the hospitality industry, which are produce and labour-intensive. Remuneration is also being influenced by changing HR rules and changes in employees expectation of the working environment, which again is very significant in the hospitality industry where there are no standard trading times as in say the office environment, and obviously it’s not an industry that lends itself to working from home.

At the moment the current indications are that senior executive positions in the club industry have risen in the order of $15,000-$30,000 per annum in the last 12-18 months, I believe we will see continuing increases in this order over the next 12 months at least, before it may start to level out, it’s simply a question of supply and demand which is manifesting itself not only in frontline staff but also across all levels of senior management.

The increase remuneration expectations of senior club executives means that greater care and time should be taking in ensuring the selection of the best possible person. I’ve said before in the present environment it’s an employee’s market and if you are looking for qualified senior executives then you will need to be prepared to meet the market remuneration, paying greater levels of remuneration to new executives can upset the club’s existing remuneration rationale if GM’s and board’s are not reviewing all of their senior management remunerations regularly, to ensure they are fair and equitable with the market’s expectations and to retain current personnel.

A word of caution when using the salary metrics, clubs should take more than just EGM’s and Membership into consideration, experience, stability, assets and balance sheet growth are also key attributes that should be considered when assessing current or new candidates, and certainly the clubs growth and financial performance should be considered when reviewing existing staff. I find it incredulous even today that boards and management will at times recruit new staff without thorough independent reference checking of previous employers.

Care also needs to be taken when comparing against these figures as every clubs situation is somewhat different, management expertise and performance will vary and recognise that these figures are averaged which automatically means some executive will earn more than the benchmark and some will be earning less, it is designed as a guide.

Let me know your thoughts or experiences with recruitment