Introduction and Objectives
Welcome to the 2008 Bid Solutions / APMP UK Salary Survey. This comprehensive review of UK bid and proposal management salaries is the first of its kind and provides ground breaking results and analysis.
The Survey has four main aims:
- Provide employers and employees with accurate salary data
- Identify inconsistencies arising from the following factors:
- Gender
- Age
- Role
- Geography
- Industry
- Experience
- Qualifications
- Working Practices
- Benefits
- Employment Status
- Assess the overall satisfaction of the UK’s bid and proposal workforce
- Review core behavioural traits of the two largest role groups: bid and proposal managers
The decision making process for any potential new recruit or existing employee is more complex than ever. Offering an attractive base salary is not sufficient in itself. Real consideration must be given to the benefits package, flexible working conditions and personal development opportunities which often factor just as highly in decision making.
Despite the worsening economic conditions throughout 2008, the bid and proposal recruitment sector has shown no signs of a slowdown, indicating that talent attraction and people investment remains high on the business agenda. A strong contributing factor has been the ongoing talent shortage.
In total, over 400 people from a diverse range of geographies and industries contributed to the survey. We are confident that employers will find the results important for both the recruitment and retention of the best talent, whilst employees will be better informed when planning their own careers.
- Analysis by Gender
Analysis by Gender
Albeit slightly male orientated, the UK Bid and Proposal Industry has good representation from both sexes. Overall, 58% of participants were male, 42% were female.
Gender mix
Once you analyse specific industry disciplines, it becomes clear that there are gender imbalances. Senior roles such as Head of Bid Team, Head of Proposal Team, Bid Director, Capture Manager, Commercial Manager and Consultant are dominated by males – by up to 90% in some instances. On the flip side, roles such as Proposal Writer, Knowledgebase Manager, Document Manager and Proposal Manager are dominated by females.
Gender clearly has an impact upon salary. Across all roles, the average salary for a female is £39855. For a male, the average salary is £52358 – 24% higher.
When we compare individual roles the differences are even more acute. Males operating as Bid Directors, Consultants, and Document Managers earn on average over 30% more than their female counterparts. In core roles such as Bid Manager and Proposal Manager, the discrepancies are smaller, albeit still a concern.
- Analysis by Age
Analysis by Age
The average age of males in our industry is 42. For females, the average age is 36. Across all core roles the average female age is less than that of males, except for Knowledgebase Manager and Head of Bid Management. Female Proposal Managers are on average 10 years younger than their male colleagues. Female Consultants are on average 12 years younger, with female Bid Managers being on average 6 years younger. Whilst age is not necessarily an accurate indicator of skills and experience, it could offer one explanation for the salary discrepancies. Alternatively, it could be suggested that women may be promoted quicker yet simply not given the financial rewards of male peers.
Average age by role
Females, whilst being on average much younger than their male equivalents, appear to exit the industry much earlier than males. This would be most likely be explained by those starting families. The balance of males to females is approximately 50:50 in the 35-40 age banding. Below this age, the industry is more dominated by females. Over it, it becomes very male dominated.
There is a strong correlation between age and total salary package. The average industry package for someone in their 20’s is £38873, rising to £70522 for someone in their 40’s, and topping out at £86667 for someone in their 60’s.
Average total package by age group
- Analysis by Role
Analysis by Role
189 different job titles were recorded in the Salary Survey. 20% classed themselves as Senior Bid Managers, 7% as Bid Managers, 7% as Proposal Managers, and 3% as Head of Bid Management. The remaining 185 different titles accounted for 63% of respondents. There is clearly a need for industry agreement on common job titles and job descriptions. For example, Bid Coordinator, Bid Specialist, Bid Support Executive, Bid Assistant, Sales Support Executive and Sales Coordinator all appear to be describing a similar role. Perhaps Junior Bid Manager may seem a more suitable title that is less ambiguous and can be better understood by employers across all industries.
Respondent mix by role
71% of respondents are currently employed in 4 core roles. Bid Managers represented the largest group at 34%. Heads of Bid Team were 2nd at 16%. Proposal Managers represented 13% of respondents whilst Proposal Writers / Editors made up the final 8%. Management roles accounted for 21% of the mix which loosely equates to 4 subordinates per manager. Graphics / Proposal Designers were the least well represented group, closely followed by Capture Managers – representing 1% and 2% of the mix respectively.
Based on average basic pay, Bid Directors are the best paid people within our industry earning £66667. Document Managers are the least well paid earning £29167. Bid Managers earn £44693 whilst Proposal Managers earn £39286. Perhaps the most notable observation is the large salary range found within each role. £60000 separates the highest paid Bid Manager from the lowest. £85000 separates the lowest from the highest paid Proposal Manager. There are similar discrepancies in Management Roles with Head’s of Bid Management ranging from £27500 to £100000 and Head of Proposal Management ranging from £27500 to £77500.
Such large ranges are of real concern and show a lack of commonality across job descriptions, roles and responsibilities and core competencies. Further still, most organisations typically have quite narrow salary band ranges for any one role (£10000-£20000 leeway) and this may explain why salary expectations can become stifled or glass ceilings reached quite quickly.
Average basic salary by role
- Analysis by Geography
Analysis by Geography
The South East / South Coast regions account for 66% of respondents. London alone had 27% of respondents. Least well represented were Northern Ireland (0.5%), Wales (1.1%), Anglia (2.47%) and Scotland (2.74%). Career opportunities in the Southern half of the country are clearly more abundant and those residing outside this region will be competing for far fewer roles. Similarly, employers looking to build bid and proposal teams in these less well represented locations may well experience skills shortages.
Respondent response by area
The South West topped the average base salary for men whilst Wales proved best for women. Slight caution needs to be exercised with these results given the relatively small number of respondents in these areas. If we exclude those areas representing less than 5% of respondents (20 people) London tops the league for men at £53844 and the Home Counties for women with £45125.
The lowest average base salaries for men (greater than 5% representation) were recorded in the North West at £47500. For women, London is the lowest paid location with the average base salary equating to £37125. Albeit only recording 3% of the respondents, Scotland had the overall lowest average base salaries for both men (£42500) and women (£30833).
Excluding those areas representing less than 5% of respondents, the South East offers the highest average base salary for bid managers at £47500. The lowest is Yorkshire and Tyne Tees with £38214. The Home Counties offer the highest average base salary for proposal managers at £43438. The Midlands had the lowest at £22500. The Home Counties again topped the highest average base salary for proposal writers with £42500. Joint lowest were the South East and Yorkshire and Tyne Tees with £27500.
Whilst some caution needs to be exercised when interpreting these results (due to sample size in certain locations), these results indicate a general North-South inconsistency in terms of average base salary.
Whilst there are some strong indicators, there is no conclusive evidence that confirms financial reward leads to employee satisfaction. The South West (31%), South East (15%) and Home Counties (12%) had the most ‘Very Satisfied’ people. Anglia (33%), Yorkshire (17%) and the Home Counties (15%) had the most disgruntled respondents that were ‘Not Satisfied’ with their roles.
Grouping ‘Not Satisfied’ and ‘Could be Better’, those regions least satisfied with their current roles are Anglia (67%), Home Counties (62%) and Scotland (60%). Grouping ‘Satisfied’ and ‘Very Satisfied’, those areas most satisfied are the South West (75%), North West (59%), and Yorkshire and Tyne-Tees (54%).
With over 67% of respondents travelling less than 100 miles per week, most respondents are generally office based. Of the 17% of respondents that had to travel more than 250 miles per week, over 80% of these were either bid managers or in management.
Average travel per week
The majority of respondents are rarely required to travel internationally to fulfil their duties. Over 70% are required to travel no more than once per year. In all those categories where travel is required, the role of bid manager is the most mobile. The least mobile role is graphic / proposal design.
Approximately one third of respondents were unwilling to relocate for work. Bid managers were the most willing to relocate. One in four people would consider an international move.
- Analysis by Industry
Analysis by Industry
IT and Telecomms dominated the survey with over 40% of respondents. Defence, Construction, Engineering and Recruitment represented a combined total of 20%. 14% of respondents worked across multiple industries. With the majority of industries having less than 1% of total respondents it is difficult to reach meaningful conclusions.
Industry Average Base Salary
Looking at the top 12 Industries (in terms of number of respondents), Aviation has the highest average basic salary for men whilst Computing represents the best paid Industry for women. The largest average salary discrepancies appear within the Aviation, Construction and Financial Services Sectors. Women are less well paid then Men in all categories except Computing. There does appear to be better parity in Banking, Defence and Telecommunications.
The Defence industry has the happiest people with over 70% either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their current role. All of those working in Banking appeared to be unhappy with respondents stating they were either ‘not satisfied’ or that it ‘could be better’.
- Analysis by Experience
Analysis by Experience
There is a clear correlation between industry experience and basic salary. This is evidenced across both sexes and all experience levels – albeit with women trailing men by 10-15% across the range. With entry level salaries averaging £34198 and rising to £61037 for 10+ year’s service, the profession offers clear financial prosperity for those that remain successful over the longer term. Over 93% of respondents had gained this experience in a hands-on capacity, with the remaining 7% gaining experience as a supplier of services to the Bid and Proposal Profession.
Average Base Salary and industry experience
The Industry is clearly dominated by experienced people. Over 90% of respondents classed themselves as ‘Experienced’ or higher. On the flip side, the lack of ‘Graduates’ (0.8%) and ‘Entry Level’ (4%) respondents within our industry is a real cause for concern and reinforces the adage that most people find themselves working within Bid and Proposal Management rather than choosing it as a defined career path. With the introduction of a formal Accreditation Programme and as the industry matures at a pace, this imbalance should start to redress itself.
- Analysis by Qualifications
Analysis by Qualifications
Over 95% of all respondents have a formal qualification. Impressively, over 70% of participants had a Bachelors Degree or higher.
Education Mix
It appears that Education has little bearing on average salary. Whilst those with only vocational education were paid on average 35% less than the highest earners, all other qualifications averaged salaries within 10% of the highest earners – those with Master Degree’s / PhD’s.
APMP Accreditation
Almost 50% of respondents were either not aware of the APMP Accreditation programme or felt it wasn’t applicable in their current role. Whilst those achieving Foundation Level was respectable (22%), only 3% had achieved Practitioner Level and only a further 3% had achieved Professional Level. There is currently no evidence that suggests achieving any level of APMP Accreditation will lead to increased salary. Many organisations do however now stipulate it as a basic requirement when selecting and hiring new staff.
- Analysis by Working Practices
Analysis by Working Practices
There are a number of factors that contribute to the overall success and longevity of an employee. Clearly salary is important but consideration must also be given to general working conditions, flexible working practices and personal development.
At 2%, unemployment within the survey sample is relatively low. The workforce is dominated by permanent employees (87%) with contactors and independent consultants forming only 11% of the respondents.
Employment status
Over 42% of respondents had no personal development plan in place. Only 14% of respondents were proactively managing their personal development.
% of respondents with a personal development plan
Those who had a personal development plan and were making progress toward it were the most satisfied. Over 60% of people who had no plan expressed their dissatisfaction with their current role whereas over 61% of people with a plan expressed their satisfaction.
Role satisfaction and personal development
Only 25% of respondents had a career plan in place that was being managed actively and supported. Over 55% either had no carrer progression plan or felt that it was not supported by management.
Despite the lack of career planning and personal development, a healthy 70% of respondents expected to build a long term career in bid and proposal management. Only 3% felt that they could not build a long-term career in the industry.
Do you expect to build a long term career in bid & proposal management
Over 50% of respondents have been in their current role for less than 2 years. This suggests a very high turnover within Bid and Proposal Management roles. Only 24% of respondents have been in their current role for more than 4 years. Burn-out due to excessive working hours is one possible cause.
Time in current company shows similar employee retention issues. Over 1 in 3 (36%) respondents have changed organisations within the last 2 years. This equates to nearly double the average organisational employee turnover rates. Over 26% of respondents had been within their current organisation for more than 7 years.
Job satisfaction is very high within the first 6 months of employment but then rapidly falls away for the following 6 months. This highlights the need to have firm personal development plans in place from day one.
Over 42% of the bid and proposal workforce are permanently office based. Just over 5% have full home working flexibility. This result suggests that many organisations are yet to adopt the technological and cultural changes that permit remote working.
Typical working practises
Only 9% of respondents were not required to regularly work additional hours. With over 32% required to work on average an extra day per week and disturbingly over 11% clocking up almost 2 extra days per week, the industry has a serious issue to tackle.
Regular additional hours worked
- Analysis by Benefits
Analysis by Benefits
There are numerous benefits on offer from today’s large organisations. Indeed, many operate a ‘pick-and-mix’ style system that allows employees to select those benefits that suit their lifestyle. Smaller organisations are often not able to implement such complex schemes. As such, the survey focussed on 9 core benefits that are generally considered attainable in all organisations.
Car entitlement was generally restricted to senior bid and management positions. 54% of bid managers and 32% of proposal managers attracted a car allowance. No car allowance was recorded for document manager and graphic designer roles. Only 10% of those people entitled to a car / car allowance also attracted a fuel card as part of the package. Only 3% of respondents were eligible for a car sharing benefit / environmental subsidy.
Private healthcare is a key component of any benefits package. Most job seekers specify it as a ‘must have’. Whilst this benefit does score highly with more senior roles, it is still somewhat lacking in more junior roles.
Non-contributory pension schemes are now rarely offered as part of a benefits package. Interestingly, both graphic design and document management roles factored higher in this category than some more senior roles.
Contributory pensions were available in all roles expect graphic design. There is a clear correlation between role seniority and likelihood of attracting a contributory pension.
Over 82% of respondents had a minimum of 25 days holiday per year.
Over 45% of respondents had a bonus based on a mix of individual, team and company objectives.
Over 17% were not eligible for
any form of bonus. Only 5% of respondents had bonuses directly related to win rate.
- Analysis for Contractors / Self Employed
Analysis for Contractors / Self Employed
The contractor market has witnessed a slower year with many organisations choosing to tighten their belts. Whilst experience, skills and contract duration clearly influence a contractor’s day rate, a shortage of contract work has recently encouraged some to offer more competitive rates. Many seasoned contractors have moved in to permanent work in order to weather the storm.
Bid directors were on average the best paid contractors earning £1100 per day. Document managers attracted the lowest average day rate at £275. Bid managers ranged from £275 to £775 per day, whilst proposal managers ranged from £125 to £550.
Contract day rate by role
Over 67% of contractors were engaged for more than 47 weeks of the year. 20% of respondents took no holiday and worked a full 52 weeks (with 11% working additional hours on top).
Contractor utilisation over previous 12 months
With over 84% of contractors renewed or about to be renewed, contractors form a key component of many bid and proposal teams.
Six month contracts are clearly the preferred duration with over 38% of contractors classing this as their average contract length. 12 month contracts are also popular with 23% of the vote. 3 month contracts represent only 13% of the vote, however with difficult financial times ahead we expect to see these increase as organisations manage their spends more closely.
- Core Role Analysis: Bid Manager, Proposal Manager, Proposal Writer
Core Role Analysis: Bid Manager, Proposal Manager, Proposal Writer
Bid Manager Analysis
Average Bid Manager Base Salary by Industry
Proposal Manager Analysis
Average Proposal Manager Base Salary by Industry
Proposal Writer Analysis
Average Proposal Writer Base Salary by Industry
- Overall Satisfaction
Overall Satisfaction
Whilst a somewhat subjective measure, measuring satisfaction provides the ‘gut-feel’ view of respondents and allows us to understand some of the broader issues.
Only 33% of respondents were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their basic salary. 67% of people clearly feel underpaid.
There is almost a 50:50 split between those that do enjoy their job and those that don’t. No one particular role causes dissatisfaction or in deed satisfaction. Each category has a broad mix of roles.
Only 46% of respondents are currently ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their employer. Such high dissatisfaction is of serious concern because attrition rates of 54% would be unmanageable and costly.
Although quite well balanced, there are slightly more people dissatisfied (56%) with their benefits package than those that are satisfied (44%).
Perhaps the simplest way to rectify role and organisational satisfaction would be to address the worst performing satisfaction metric – Personal Development Planning. Almost one quarter of respondents were not satisfied with their personal development plan. Only 5% were very satisfied.
Further Information and Bespoke Reports
In today’s competitive market, many factors can have an influence upon basic salary. To that end, the UK Salary Survey collected data on 32 key variables. Should you require a bespoke report that has not been presented with the main report, please contact Bid Solutions on 0208 6224435 (martin_smith@bidsolutions.co.uk) to discuss your specific needs.
Contacts and Contributors
If you have any questions about using this salary guide, please email martin_smith@bidsolutions.co.uk
For specific salary guidance, tailored to your organisation's requirements, or to register with us please contact Bid Solutions by calling 0208 622 4435. Alternatively, visit www.bidsolutions.co.uk for more information.
Sponsors
We would like to thank Concurrence for publishing all associated electronic medium associated with the Salary Survey. Concurrence is the provider of world-leading bid and proposal tools - helping leading companies across many sectors to win more business in complex sales processes. Concurrence tools help you to win more business by improving the quality, making better-informed decisions and ultimately delivering the most compelling offer to your customers.
We would like to thank aab (www.aabdesign.co.uk) for designing and producing the UK Salary Survey Brochure. aab is a leading design consultancy with a proven track record in delivering compelling communications solutions to small and large companies.
Acknowledgements
Bid Solutions would like to thank the following people for their input and guidance: Tony Birch, Martin Kaye, Sarah Rowen, Cathy Day, Jon Williams, Richard Jenkins, BJ Lownie, Graham Ablett and Pat Thomas.