Money canʼt buy happiness...

The 2016 Travel Daily/travelbulletin industry salary survey has uncovered some intriguing trends across the different sectors of the travel industry – including the perhaps not-so-surprising finding that higher pay doesn’t necessarily equate to higher job

I don’t care too much for money – money can’t buy me love. So sang the Beatles’ Paul Mccartney more than 50 years ago – but the words still ring true today, particularly when it comes to the Australian travel industry. The nation of Bhutan – certainly not one of the wealthiest countries in the world – bases its performance on a “Gross National Happiness” index rather than traditional economic measures, while the Bible tells us that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Whether we like it or not, money makes the world go round – but perhaps, based on the results of our survey, Australian travel consultants have the right perspective.

How did we measure it?

In order to measure on-the-job happiness, this year’s Travel Daily/travelbulletin industry salary survey included a question based on the tried-and-true Net Promoter Score system, which basically measured whether a respondent was likely to recommend their employment situation to someone else. Net Promoter Score (NPS) ratings are used by many major organisations to measure their performance and reputation, including Qantas and Travel Counsellors, just to name a couple. Participants were asked “How likely are you to recommend your workplace to a friend or colleague” and based on their response on a scale of 0 to 10 are classified as “detractors” (score 0-6), “passives” (score 7-8) or “promoters” (score 9-10). These figures are then collated to form an overall Net Promoter Score which can be between -100 (everybody is a detractor) and +100 (everybody is a promoter). An NPS that is higher than zero is regarded as good, with a number such as +50 being excellent. In our survey the NPS revealed that travel consultants, while the lowest paid, were the most likely to recommend their job to others. The survey asked the almost 1,000 respondents what they earnt, and correlated that with their Net Promoter Score and what segment of the industry they came from – retail, wholesale, aviation, corporate, MICE, cruise, hospitality or travel support, such as currency exchange, consolidation and insurance. Travel consultants came out at the bottom money-wise, with an average income of just under $55,000 – significantly lower than those in other

sectors (see graph below). However when it came to whether they would recommend their jobs to others, retail consultants rated their roles much more highly than most other sectors. The NPS rating for retail travel was a healthy 23.9 – of a similar order of magnitude to that for Corporate/tmc staffers (NPS = 32.6) and those working in the business events sector (NPS = 24.2). By contrast, respondents who worked in aviation earned an average of $78,000 but on balance didn’t feel great about their jobs, with a Net Promoter Score of minus 11, meaning they were likely to actively discourage others from similar roles – while those in wholesale, cruise and hospitality were pretty much neutral, with low single-digit NPS ratings of around 3 each respectively.

The gender divide?

As with last year’s survey ( travelbulletin June 2015), despite protestations from across the industry that it is not generally the case, women who responded to our poll earnt significantly less than the men. Reflecting the general structure of the industry there were more women working in each sector, with females comprising 81% of the retail travel consultants surveyed. That was slightly higher than the level of women in wholesale (79%), aviation (65%), corporate agencies (56%) and cruise (63%), with only the business events sector – those involved in meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) – having a higher female participation level at 88%. In a panel discussion at last month’s Travel Industry Exhibition in Sydney and Melbourne, a number of prominent recruiters were adamant that gender plays no role in determining the salary for any particular role – but intriguingly across the board the survey found women working in each sector earnt less on average than their male counterparts. In retail travel the average for women was $50,494 versus men who were on $73,417; in corporate the difference was not as stark, but women were on an average of $74,209 versus men at $80,966. Similar patterns appeared in wholesale (women $58,205 against men with $67,075), aviation ($74,023 for females versus $86,599 for males), and MICE (women averaging $69,996 versus men with $82,944). The gender divide was particularly stark in the cruise sector, where men averaged $109,871 – double the average for women on $54,672. So if there’s no difference in pay levels for particular jobs, why the gender disparity? A few reasons come to mind. As the saying goes, there are “lies, damn lies and statistics” – and the figures could reflect responses from a few more highly paid men versus a large number of women at lower levels. It’s also possible that while starting salaries are the same for particular roles, perhaps men are better at bargaining for pay rises when it comes to a review than women. And it may simply be the well-documented phenomenon of the “glass ceiling” where only a minority of women progress to senior roles in the industry – although according to a range of experts (see breakout boxes) this certainly isn’t the case.

Aviat ion and cruising –not somuchfun?

A job with an airline has long been seen as the holy grail for people in the travel industry. What’s not to love? The travel benefits let you see the world for a fraction of the cost, there are all those glamorous uniforms and aviation fuel smells great...! Anecdotally in recent years remuneration in aviation has surged, with Middle Eastern airlines rumoured to be paying top dollar to get the best staff with the largest networks of corporate contacts, particularly when it comes to sales representatives. That may have left their colleagues in other carriers behind, but overall it appears aviation still comes up trumps when it comes to remuneration. The survey found the average income in aviation was just over $78,000 – higher than almost all other sectors. Entry level salaries averaged at $59,613, middle managers had an income of $74,713 while senior staff averaged $94,352 in the survey. There was also a lot of industry experience in the aviation sector – 61% of the respondents in the aviation survey had 11 years or more in the travel industry, and the majority (39%) were aged 36-45. But for some reason the Net Promoter Score for those in aviation was a strongly negative 11.1, meaning a significant

number were “detractors” and would not encourage anyone into the job. Similarly, cruise is enjoying a massive surge in popularity, so you would think it would be equally in demand from the point of view of employment. Salaries of those who responded were quite impressive, particularly at the top end where senior roles attracted an average salary of $192,779. That pushed up the average to a healthy $70,906, and reflecting the relative novelty of the industry there’s less industry experience in this group, with 36% being in the industry for more than 11 years – almost the same proportion as the 34% of respondents who had been in travel for 6-10 years. However despite the higher pay levels, job satisfaction seemed again to be lower than you might expect in cruising, with a Net Promoter Score of just 3.2 indicating most staff were on average neutral about their roles. Why could that be? Aviation and cruising surely are the poster children of the industry, yet clearly the reality isn’t as rosy as it appears, in a case of “the grass is always greener” – until you get to the other side. Some reasons that come to mind include high pressure, with huge amounts of both cruise and aviation capacity in the market meaning there’s lots of competition. Both industries operate on the principle of zero shelf-life – meaning the value of an empty seat or cabin is precisely nothing after departure. Indeed aviation and cruise capacity is the ultimate perishable, of high value when filled but earning the operator nothing at all if it’s not sold. Another factor could be the very fact that there is high demand for the coveted jobs in the sector – meaning employers can easily replace those who aren’t performing, albeit at a higher salary level. The life of a cruise or aviation representative can be very disjointed, with lots of travel and a work life of constant transition, weekend shows and evening events – enjoyable for some time, but it can potentially result in loneliness and distance from loved ones.

Final coments

There has been little wages growth in Australia in the last few years, and the results from the survey certainly bear that out. Overall 56% of respondents said their salary had not changed in the last year. 39% had seen an increase in their income, while 5% revealed their remuneration had actually dropped. Drilling down into the individual segments of the industry, the only sectors which saw an increase were cruise, where 59% had seen a pay rise, and accommodation with 70% of staffers receiving more money in the last 12 months than the previous year. With interest rates and CPI growth continuing at record lows, don’t expect your pay packet to become fatter in the coming year. As an aside, the survey asked respondents whether they had ever used one of the travel recruitment companies, with almost half (47%) confirming they had used an employment consultant for their own job search. 16% had also used an agency to find suitable candidates for vacant positions, and so there’s no doubt that the industry values the experience and expertise of these professionals who know the job market so well. However what was intriguing was a very low Net Promoter Score level across the board for the various recruiters. In every case the NPS rating for the different travel employment agencies was heavily negative, both from jobseekers and companies seeking staff – indicating that despite the invaluable services they provide, perhaps businesses in this sector need to work on improving their image.