Robust wage, bonus growth for marketers in 2011: Robert Walters

The document reveals that the FMCG industry is currently undergoing a candidate shortage, and thus, premiums of over 15 per cent are expected due to the absence of much sought-after niche skills. Significant growth has also been seen in trade marketing roles where firms focus more on the importance of these roles within a highly competitive consumer market.

"We will continue to see an increase in salaries and bonus payouts across the FMCG industry aimed primarily at talent retention and expected strong business growth throughout 2011," said Wendy Heng, manager of the sales and marketing division at Robert Walters Singapore. She added that companies will also re-assess their incentive structures to attract and retain quality candidates in the market.

The pharmaceutical industry will see a moderate wage increase with a greater dependence on key drug development pipelines. However, good payouts are quite likely in the coming months as companies ride on a strong 2010 business growth within Asia-Pacific. Generic drug companies are key segments to watch for in 2011, as MNCs are looking to expand these areas in the market.

With regards to bonuses, Heng pointed out that candidates within the FMCG and pharmaceutical sectors have different bonuses and incentive schemes, whilst most of them may not have payouts on an annual basis.

"On a whole, we expect bonuses for sales candidates within these sectors to be in line with one to four months’ payouts given in previous years. For marketing candidates, bonuses range between one to two and a half months and we expect this to be stable. The range does differ from MNCs to SMEs, but the former will be more generous as they tend to have larger market share and business sizes," Heng observes.

Singapore is maintaining its status as the healthcare hub in the emerging region and the 2011 outlook for wage and bonus growth will remain robust throughout the industry, according to Robert Walters. 

Meanwhile, within the consumer credit cards industry, there tends to be a premium of 10 to 15 per cent in areas such as portfolio management and marketing analytics – as compared to other areas such as  product management/ general marketing positions – due to the niche skill sets that are needed. This is applicable across both local and foreign banks. Bonuses for candidates in the credit card business have been in the range of two to six months and can make up 50 per cent of the candidates’ annual compensation. 

On top of this, Robert Walters Singapore expects to see an increase in wage growth within digital/ e-commerce marketing moving forward into 2011.