Benchmarking salaries in archaeology 2024
CIfA has changed its approach to addressing the issues of low pay in archaeology. In future it will be working on a salary benchmarking project. It is the result of a long-standing policy decision by the Board to stop making minimum salary recommendations. The institute has been exploring alternative options, including salary benchmarking, with sector partners for some years.
The Plan.
The plan, developed in partnership with the Advisory Council, was to continue minimum salary recommendations for a transitional period alongside a benchmarking approach. Following legal advice, the Board has agreed to implement the change immediately. The Institute regretted the lack of warning and background information provided to members but hoped this did not cause any confusion.
How does it work?
Salary benchmarking is recognised by many professional organisations including:-
- Chartered Institute for Ecologists and Environmental Manager
- Institute of Environmental Managers and Assessors
- Royal Institute of British Architects
- Museums Association
Salary Benchmarking.
• to provide data for employees and prospective employees to help them judge how advertised roles compare to average salaries in the profession
• information for employers when designing and advertising job roles to ensure that salaries attract appropriately competent applicants
• trade unions use it in workplace negotiations, or in workplace agreements where there is no trade union recognition
• an advocacy tool to champion better paid roles
How will this work for archaeology?
Henceforth, salary data will be collected annually based on the job roles advertised in the preceding year. This data provides salary ranges for various job roles, delineating the minimum, maximum, and average salaries for those positions. The information will serve as a benchmark for comparing similar statistics from other professional organizations, utilizing competency criteria for accreditation to guarantee accurate comparisons.
New approach to benchmarking salaries.
The new system will be based on advertised salaries over the previous year rather than using other factors to recommend minimum salary. Thus by using a similar benchmarking process it will allow comparison between salaries in archaeology and these professions. It allows tracking of trends to provide commentary in the context of inflation, the market for archaeological services and other external benchmarks e.g. Real Living Wage, Minimum Income Standard and average UK salaries. Salary benchmarking will yield more comprehensive information and establish a stronger evidence base. Henceforth, it will concentrate on both well-compensated and underpaid roles to provide update information and data.
Preliminary findings will be published in August with the final report following during the autumn.
AS Archaeology robustly supports correct recognition of skills base to salary and encourage all our staff to have membership with CIfA. Front Page – AS Archaeology & Heritage Services
Chartered Institute for Archaeologists: Welcome | Chartered Institute for Archaeologists
Museums Association: Pay in museums – Museums Association
Chartered Institute for Ecologists & Environmental Managers: The IEMA State of the profession: Survey 2022 – IEMA
Royal Institute of British Architects: Salary Report (architecture.com)
<Chartered Institute for Archaeologists>