Reprinted from GreenBuzz, a free weekly e-newsletter. Subscribe right here.
Sustainability professionals are thriving. That in itself is information.
When the 2008 recession got here round, the sustainability perform inside corporations suffered as many positions had been shed as a part of cost-saving (euphemistically, “rightsizing”) measures. By the point the recession resulted in 2010, solely about one in 4 corporations stated they deliberate so as to add devoted sustainability assets. A decade later, in 2020, that quantity had roughly doubled, to just about six in 10 corporations.
At the moment, 76 p.c of respondents from giant corporations reported a rise in head rely, an 18-point leap since 2019 — “a powerful indicator of sustainability’s significance throughout the largest corporations,” based on the most recent “State of the Career” report simply printed by GreenBiz Group.
The report tracks traits amongst sustainability professionals inside each giant and smaller corporations. This yr’s report, the seventh biennial since 2010, relies on practically 1,500 nameless survey responses collected throughout November and December 2021 amongst members of the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel, with further respondents reached by way of partnerships with Weinreb Group Sustainability Recruiting, International Reporting Initiative and Environmental Protection Fund. Amongst survey respondents, 56 p.c had been employed by giant organizations — these with revenues larger than $1 billion — and 81 p.c of these stay and work in the USA.
Through the monetary disaster, we noticed sustainability groups take an actual hit. We did not know if that was going to occur this time. However it’s positively the alternative.
When the pandemic hit, it was a worrisome time for the occupation. “Through the monetary disaster, we noticed sustainability groups take an actual hit,” GreenBiz VP and Senior Analyst John Davies, who carried out the analysis and wrote the report, instructed me. “We did not know if that was going to occur this time. However it’s positively the alternative: Group sizes are greater, extra persons are being employed and extra individuals added ESG roles, one thing that we hadn’t requested about beforehand. It is what we’re calling the Nice Enlargement.”
It is not simply head rely that shot up. Three-fourths of respondents reported that their budgets had additionally elevated, a 24-point leap from 2019, a yr that itself had seen a 15-point improve over 2017. Gender variety additionally improved because the variety of ladies in sustainability management roles expanded by shut to twenty p.c because the first such survey in 2010. However racial variety is lagging. “It is nonetheless a primarily predominantly white occupation,” stated Davies.
The Nice Enlargement will be attributed in no small half to the elevated consciousness amongst C-suite executives about local weather and different urgent points. Among the many questions Davies has been asking since 2016 is for respondents to fee, on a scale from 1 to 7, how concerned their CEO is of their firm’s sustainability program. Earlier experiences noticed minor will increase in CEO curiosity and nearly none brazenly dismissive. In the newest survey, 60 p.c rated CEO curiosity both a 7 (20 p.c) or 6 (40 p.c). Two years earlier, these numbers had been 14 p.c and 29 p.c, respectively.
A few of that upturn is little doubt as a consequence of elevated stress by buyers on ESG points. CEOs, in flip, lean on their sustainability departments for assist. The outcome: Totally half of bigger corporations — these with annual income over $1 billion — added employees or consultants as a consequence of this elevated stress, and 35 p.c reported hiring extra consultants.
Present me the cash
All these stats apart, what lures hundreds of readers to the “State of the Career” report each two years is the info it provides on compensation, which we all know anecdotally many professionals use as a benchmark when it comes time to barter wage will increase.
In a nutshell: The typical whole compensation (base wage plus further compensation akin to bonus, exercised choices, and many others.) for sustainability managers is $146,900. For administrators, it’s $227,158 and for vice presidents a whopping $404,972.
The bottom wage for managers and administrators tracks a normal bell curve, stated Davies. However the vary of base salaries for vice presidents seems to be extra inverted, with 32 p.c having a base under $200,000, 18 p.c having a base between $300,000 and $400,000, and 9 p.c with a base larger than $400,000.
Geography performs a job right here:
With 81 p.c of respondents primarily based in the USA, U.S. base salaries had been greater for managers and administrators (roughly $9,000 and $7,500 respectively) than these from different nations. The elevated response charges for this yr’s survey allowed us to discover regional variations within the U.S. as properly. We separated California from the West and New York from the East and noticed these two states pay managers considerably greater than some other area. Managers in California averaged $150,961, and their counterparts in New York averaged $139,226. That’s between $10,000 and $30,000 greater than elsewhere within the nation.
In fact, these bounties aren’t evenly distributed. For instance, on the director stage, males common $180,646 whereas ladies make considerably much less — $166,950. Feminine managers, alternatively, make a median of $3,000 greater than their male counterparts.
As Davies put it, referring to compensation: “It is going gangbusters for numerous individuals.” However not all.
“The sustainability occupation is increasing greater than some other time in historical past,” Davies concluded. “Corporations are starting to embed sustainable practices all through the group. Now could be the time for boards and senior administration to reward their sustainability professionals with the backing and the budgets to create even larger affect.”
Amen to that.
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