| Consultants who think that this year's consulting growth will translate into higher bonuses could well be disappointed, says Tony Restell. |
| Bonuses look set to be solid rather than spectacular
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| | By Tony Restell
With the UK
consulting industry
enjoying another year of
double-digit growth, the
big question on
everyone’s minds is how
far this will translate
into higher year-end
bonus payments. Industry
insider Tony Restell of
Top-Consultant.com
believes there is a
danger that expectations
may run ahead of
reality.
“Consultants have
undoubtedly had a busy
year in 2007,” he says.
“Utilisation figures
raced ahead and many
consultants will have
worked a fair few
evenings and weekends to
keep on top of
burgeoning client
demand. No-one in the
industry can have failed
to read headlines
showing how fast many of
the biggest brands have
been growing their
revenues. But I fear
there could be
disappointment in store
for those who expect
this buoyancy to result
in significantly higher
bonus payouts this
year.”
Restell believes that
much of the revenue
growth has been achieved
through the signing of
projects that are
generating only modest
profit margins. Without
any notable
strengthening of fee
rates and margins, most
firms simply don’t have
the profits to warrant
bonus payouts that are
materially better than
last year.
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“In the absence of
any significant
turnaround in the
consulting sector’s
profitability, I would
have to assume that
bonus levels will be on
a par with last year’s.
That means they’ll be
solid rather than
spectacular – and are
unlikely to be paid
across the board,” he
concludes.
The Top-Consultant
salary benchmarking
report shows that for
those consultants who
received them, bonuses
averaged 13.5% of basic
salary last time around.
However, a third of
consultants received no
bonus at all, with those
in the earlier years of
their consulting careers
most likely to be hit.
Just over 50% of junior
consultants received no
bonus, whilst at the
senior consultant level
the percentage that
missed out was still a
sizeable 36.6%.
If Restell’s
prognosis proves
correct, bonus outcomes
could be expected to
mirror those documented
in the tables – with
strategy consultants
unsurprisingly faring
the best, followed by
those working in the
programme & project
management spheres.
* indicates the
average bonus amounts
achieved by those
consultants that did
actually receive a bonus | |
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