The first Retail Sector Remuneration Survey
Barcelona June 2nd 2011.- The first Retail Sector Remuneration Survey clearly shows that in general, retail trade sector employees in Spain receive lower than average pay (average = 100). More specifically, 3% less in the case of managers, 9% less for intermediate posts and 24% less for shop assistants. In absolute figures the average gross salary for a manager in the retail sector is 69,567 € per annum, 34,318 € for intermediate posts and 17,059 € for employees.
The survey, presented in EADA, was the result of a joint collaboration between EADA and ICSA through the EADA Retail Management Centre. The survey was based on a sample that gathered salary data for over 30,000 individuals, which were statistically validated.
The study analyses 47 positions including managers, intermediate posts and employees.
Francesc Gonzalez, partner-manager of ICSA, points out that “the sector is not very professionalised given that the data show that for management posts the difference is minimal and that salary differences increase considerably as we go down the professional ladder, up to 24% in the case of employees”. In this sense “the sector should opt for more training for all its employees".
According to Xavier Bordanova, professor and director of the EADA Retail Management Centre “we are dealing with a historically under-professionalised sector, with little specific training and this accounts for the salary gap with the rest”. Furthermore, there are many internal promotion options, “which add up to a lower salary costs given that it is always more expensive to hire than to promote” adds Bordanova.
The exception here are the large food distribution chains
Although, generally speaking, the sector is below the Spanish average, large food distribution chains are the exception that confirms the rule. Salaries tend to vary both for management and intermediate posts and for shop-floor employees depending on the post, but even so they are between 1 to 9% above the average.
Presentation video featuring Xavier Bordanova (spanish)