The highest-paid risk management position, at nearly a quarter of a million dollars, is chief risk officer/vice president-risk management, nearly five times what the lowest paid position of claims analyst receives, a survey has found.
CROs are averaging a salary of $170,683 and total compensation of $220,233; analysts average $51,852 with total compensation of $54,485, according to a risk management survey.
Risk managers in the Northeast were paid the highest, with an average salary base of $151,200, while the lowest-paid region was the Southeast, at $103,500, the survey found. Second highest were risk managers in the West, whose salaries averaged $130,300.
The 2008 Risk Management Compensation Survey, conducted by the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), was released late yesterday.
The 2008 survey presents compensation data for 11 different jobs, categorized by company size (based on full-time employees and annual revenues), risk management department size, industry and geographic location. This year, for the first time, information on chief risk officers as well as other senior-level risk management positions is included.
Survey data was compiled by enetrix, a provider of online survey services and e-commerce solutions to associations.
Approximately 58 percent of the U.S. respondents work in organizations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. About half work in publicly owned organizations (49.9 percent), with nearly one-third (31.9 percent) working for private employers, the poll found.
A majority of the survey respondents from the U.S. were insurance and risk management directors (772), insurance management managers (363), and chief risk officers or vice presidents-risk management (176).
The survey found that CRO/VP risk management topped the scale at an average salary of $170,700. Next came the director-financial/IT risk management at $158,500; director-ERM at $121,500; director-insurance RM at $118,200; employee benefits/business continuity/safety manager at $82,700; claims manager at $79,900; workers' comp claims manager at $76,400; risk management analyst (enterprisewide) at $67,100; risk management analyst at $64,100; and claims analyst at $51,900.
The length of time in the risk management field, however, for the most part correlated with salaries. For example, on average, CROs were in risk management for 18.8 years; claims analysts, on the other hand, at the bottom end of the pay scale, had spent an average 7.9 years in the industry.
For Canadian respondents, RIMS said, about 45 percent work in organizations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Unlike the U.S., only 36 percent work in publicly owned organizations. And in Canada, 27 percent of respondents work for governmental employers as opposed to 6.3 percent in the United States.
The results reflect data submitted by individual risk management professionals working in more than 1,490 organizations in the United States and over 171 organizations in Canada, RIMS said.
In total, 2,180 surveys were completed online by RIMS members between May 5 and June 30, 2008. This survey is the fifth in an annual series conducted by RIMS. Risk Managers who responded to and completed the survey received one copy, in PDF, at no cost.
Additional copies for contributors are available at www.RIMS.org/CompensationSurvey. Non-contributors may purchase a PDF copy of the results at the same site or by calling 212-655-6040.
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