Investor relations salaries & market trends

What key trends have you witnessed  in 2017?

There has been a trend in hiring those with exceptional financial and numerical skills, as well as hiring those with a solid understanding of how the capital markets work. Where once an emphasis may have been on communications, the majority of companies most recently have been focusing on those with a real grasp of the numbers, which is why candidates with a more accounting and financial services background are the main type of candidates companies are interviewing.  This is largely due to the broadening remit of the IR team, where the role is now all encompassing and reaches beyond that of just speaking to analysts, but involves corporate access, investor targeting, building the investor base and maintaining the existing base, as well as being the ‘middle-man’ between management and the market. With this in mind, we have continued to see an exodus from the City and a flurry of capital markets professionals making their way into IR, including those from the sellside, buy-side and corporate broking.

As more pools of capital open up across the globe and shareholder bases become more geographically diversified, corporate access and investor targeting has become an increasingly important element of the IR programme and thus there is a need to bring on candidates with the relevant skill-set. There has also been an increasing demand for digital skills, as more IR teams have to manage their presence on corporate websites, including content management, managing CMS systems and working with website development teams.

What key trends do you expect to see over the next 12 months?

A key trend we expect to see will focus on the changes that MiFid II will bring, which will increase the demand for roles and broadening the remit of the IR role.

It is still a little early for there to be any real response to MiFid II in terms of hiring requirements, but we expect an even more of a greater demand to hire the best in class to join their IR team. Companies have considered the possibility of bringing people in-house with the corporate access/investor targeting skill-set, as they come to rely less on the sell-side and corporate brokers when it comes to meetings with the buy-side and roadshows.

What methods are companies using to attract and retain the top talent?

With the average IR team size being between two-three people, it is important to bring the right type of person on board. Companies are introducing flexible working conditions such as working from home and flexi time, as well as internal promotions, internal training courses and a greater sense of support for employees developing their careers.

 

Do you anticipate any changes to permanent salaries and bonuses over  the next 12 months?

There hasn’t been much movement in salaries and bonuses in the IR space and we do not expect this to change in the year ahead. Bonuses are still between 20-30% on average based on a combination of company and personal performance.

Contract roles & day rates

Demand for contract investor relations has remained consistent. Companies who are looking to hire an IR candidate on a permanent basis may decide to hire a senior interim IR candidate to assist with M&A issues and annual report processes, for example, before employing a permanent IR manager to manage the day to day activities. Companies may hire an interim candidate when they are looking to IPO and usually this can be for a period of 6-12 months.

Following Brexit, we have seen a slight increase in these types of hires over 2017 against 2016 where there was still a certain level of uncertainty. As markets begin to stabilise and with the addition of Mifidf2 rolling out this year, we expect to see more need for contract IR roles to cope with increased pressures and workload that this regulation will bring to the IR function.