Arras People, the project management recruitment and career specialists release the latest annual report on the UK and Global Programme and Project Management domain. The report polled over 2,100 permanent and contract Programme and Project Management professionals during December 2015 and January 2016.
The Project Management Benchmark Report (PMBR) 2016 shows how the UK’s economic turbulence is affecting project management practitioners’ earnings, aspirations and professional life.
Having entered 2015 with some green shoots of recovery after ‘the great recession’; further global impacts appear to have stunted some of the optimism and growth as issues in China, the EU and the impact of the war in Syria all played their part. On the upside low inflation and falling oil prices meant that even with low pay rises most of the respondent’s maintained their standard of living.
Against this backdrop, Arras People have once again taken the opportunity to take the temperature of the Project Management domain in the eleventh annual Benchmark Report.
Some of the highlights of the PMBR include;
- Employee remuneration did not show any significant inflation busting rises in 2015, with 29% seeing no increase and 38% seeing 2% or less. The only practitioners who saw significant increases were those who moved jobs, in this group 45% achieved increase >2% and 26% achieved >8% to get ahead in the pay rise stakes.
- Demographics of the profession continue to see a worrying trend as the practitioner group continues to age. The numbers of practitioners under 34 years of age has consistently fallen since the 2008 recession. At the same time “age discrimination” is still seen as an issue for older practitioners looking for a new role.
- Organisations looking to hire are seeing more “availability” issues as they seek to fill open positions. It is difficult to say if this is a ‘skills shortage’ as practitioner churn remains low as they still lack confidence in the UK economy moving into 2016.
- Contractors see Government legislation as biggest threat in to their livelihood as they move into 2016. Contractors see the ongoing attacks as negative, with some looking to remove themselves from the flexible workforce. Others suggest that their day rates will have to rise further to compensate for the changes in order to maintain their standards of living
John Thorpe, Managing Director of Arras People commented, “Once again we have had great support from the Global Project Management community which has enabled us to create this highly respected report on the project management profession.”
“The current report underlines the fact that programme and project management is still evolving and facing more challenges as new techniques and technologies are introduced and championed in the workplace. Agile approaches are very much in the news, though it too does not appear to be the ‘silver bullet’ which will guarantee project success. People, the most important ingredient in the successful delivery of projects are also offering a challenge as we look to integrate the Millennial’s in the workplace alongside the Baby Boomers and those of GenX and Y. Different outlooks, character traits and expectations all add to the challenges of integration as does the desire of the younger generations to move away from ‘command and control’ to one of empowerment. The perceived lack of a return on investment from the millions of pounds spent on the old ways certainly leaves the door open to the new ways of thinking. All of which makes PPM a great melting pot of ideas and initiatives, a great place to be”
>>The full version of the report can be downloaded from the Arras People Website.