HR and IT Consulting Salaries Slow as Strategy and Operations Management Salaries Grow

Report From Kennedy Information Identifies, Benchmarks & Forecasts Compensation Levels in Consulting Profession

Consultant compensation among the traditional management consulting service segments -- Strategy, HR, IT and Operations Management -- is reaching a parting of the ways. Firms specializing in HR and IT are seeing miniscule salary growth as outsourcing drives down demand, while Strategy and Operations Management firms' salaries are growing in relative step with increased demand from clients. That is just one of the findings in Compensation & Benefits in Consulting 2006:Benchmarks, Trends, and Forecasts of the Profession from industry research firm Kennedy Information.

"Looking at the median salaries for each consulting service line, as compared to the overall profession's median salaries," said Kennedy analyst Tomek Jankowski, "we see that Operations Management firms had the strongest comparative compensation growth, while Generalist and Human Resources firms lagged behind the industry averages for each career level." Rate-compressing phenomena such as offshoring and outsourcing, particularly prevalent in HR consulting services, says Jankowski, create a vicious circle whereby consultancies attempt to lower their costs by moving some project work to external vendors, only to see clients demanding a commensurate savings in fee rates.

Nevertheless, compensation levels in the consulting industry overall rose modestly in 2005, says the report. Most consultants did see some sort of raise, generally in keeping with the rate of inflation for 2005. However, concerning top consulting talent, the report cites an accelerating movement away from salary increases in favor of more performance-based forms of compensation.

Kennedy's annual study of compensation in the consulting profession is a comprehensive 200-page report, supported by thousands of data points, tables and charts. The detailed analysis identifies current compensation levels and forecasts increases anticipated in each of the major industry segments served by consultants. The report benchmarks consultant pay for career levels ranging from partner to entry-level consultant by type of firm, size of firm and geography served.

About Kennedy Information, Inc.

Kennedy Information is the leading information source on consulting since 1970. The company publishes proprietary research reports on a wide range of topics including The Global Consulting Marketplace and Benchmarks in Management Consulting; the analytical news services Consultants News, Global IT Services Report, and Management Consultant International; as well as Consulting Magazine and The Directory of Management Consultants. Kennedy Information also produces conferences for thought leaders in consulting and powers the Web portal, www.ConsultingCentral.com.

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