Here's an interesting extract from the GHPA website. I like the concept of = pay for = work.
How Do We Compare? (using top payrate)
This should clearly be the question everyone asks when we wonder whether what we are getting paid is comparable to that our colleagues in other parts of the world receive.
It is no simple matter to deduce whether the salary paid to a pilot working in the North Sea is comparable to the salary paid to an equally experienced and qualified pilot working in say Azerbaijan. How best to make that comparison?
Regardless of how the numbers are compared there will be those who believe that the numbers are skewed or incorrect parameters and data have been used etc. Such disbelievers usually have an agenda of their own and would wish the outcome to be more in line with what they want to believe is reality rather than the truth of reality itself.
This document is a fairly amateur attempt to bring some light into the discussion about salary and become a starting point for future discussion and evaluation.
Where do we start? Well, the obvious should be the salaries paid for equivalent experience, qualifications and seniority in other areas of CHC’s operations. To find this information, as it is not forthcoming from the current management team, it is necessary to look to what the associations in other locations tell us.
Salaries
Principally we are concerned with the salaries paid to our colleagues in the area of Northern Europe and encompassing both Off-shore and Search and Rescue operations in the following locations:
A)The United Kingdom including England, Wales and Scotland.
B)Ireland
C)Norway
D)Denmark
E)The Netherlands
The CHC operations in these locations provide a number of different services although Off-shore services predominate and the crews are qualified and tasked similarly to CHC Global flight crews.
Information regarding salaries paid to pilots was obtained from the various Associations representing crews in Europe. However, it should be remembered that there is a vast difference in not only salaries but also in the various allowances that differing Associations have obtained for their respective employees.
Therefore, this exercise becomes a little like comparing apples to oranges rather than apples or oranges. To try to form a comparison that can make sense a number of assumptions have been made and some other issues ignored for the time being.
The salary that is used in all cases here is that paid to all Off-shore captains at the top rate of pay on their respective payrolls.
The value of salary paid to CHC global employees was calculated at CAD4,000 per month and a daily rate of CAD225 x 182 days worked (=CAD88,950).
Actual benefits and allowances vary very widely throughout the different companies and although these make a very significant difference in the take-home pay of some crews for the sake of simplicity these have, for now, been mostly ignored.
Finally, the issue of currency needs to be addressed as not all employees are paid in the same currency. Those is the UK are normally paid in British Pounds (GBP), those countries of Europe in the Euro Zone (Netherlands and Ireland) are paid in Euros (EUR), while Norwegian crews are paid in Norwegian Kroner (NOK) and Danes are paid in Danish Krone (DKK) and, of course, those hired out of Vancouver are paid in Canadian dollars (CAD).
In an effort to make this comparison more understandable all salaries have been converted to US dollars.
Therefore, the table of salary paid senior Off-shore captain in the various geographic locations is as follows:
Location
Scotia
CHC HS
Denmark*
Ireland
Netherlands
Canada
Salary in local currency
GBP93471
NOK1,137,426
EUR139,798
EUR130,053
EUR123,900
CAD88,950
Salary in USD
$184,138
$209,047
$206,062
$191,698
$182,629
$89,039
The following exchange rate assumptions are used:
GBP to USD 1.970 NOK to USD 5.441 EUR to USD 0.678 CAD to USD 0.998
These exchange rates were current as of 21th February 2008 and taken from the following website
Currency Converter for 164 Currencies
*Denmark salaries could only be found posted in Euros (from the CHC Benchmark document, CHC Pilot Association)
Since this study is interested in the salary paid to CHC Global employees as it compares to other CHC companies then we can make the following comparison:
CHC Salary Comparison (Level 15 equivalent, not including benefits or allowances):
Company Location
UKScotia
CHC HS
Denmark
Ireland
Netherlands
CHC Global
Company Salary (USD)
$184,138
$209,047
$206,062
$191,698
$182,629
$89,039
CHC Global as %
48.4%
42.6%
43.2%
46.4%
48.8%
100%
Others as % of CHC Global
206.8%
234.8%
231.4%
215.3%
205.1%
100%
From this we can see that CHC global employees are paid at a rate ranging between 47.5% and 54.3% of their fellow employees in other CHC companies. Or, put differently, CHC European companies are earning anywhere from 84% to 110% more than CHC Global employees.
While this appears very significant there are other factors that come into play not the least of which are the cost of living and the cost of housing in any given geographic location.
So how do CHC Global employees compare in regard to our European colleagues?
Housing Prices
Housing numbers are definitely not as definitive as rates of pay. It has been far more difficult to find average housing prices across the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) of which all the above countries are members.
To come up with numbers certain assumptions have been made as although the numbers given for the price of the average home is based on the nationwide average. It was felt that this number was not fair in the case of Canada as the variation between geographic locations was very large, probably due to the size of the country. For example in 2007 house prices in Vancouver averaged about CAD581,000 while in Winnipeg the average price was only CAD175,000. The same wide spread in prices was not found in European locations likely due to the smaller size of the countries in question and the relatively large population base. Therefore, for the purpose of this study the average house price was used for all countries but along with the Canadian average we have also given the average price for the Greater Vancouver area. This was done because Vancouver is the location of CHC Global’s head office, and because many CHC Global crews are still hired from, and live, there.
Again, it was felt necessary, to convert the average price into US dollars to be able to make fair comparison. Exchange rate used was similar to the above example for wages and information on the average house price is from the Economist magazine survey.
So, with how do house prices stack up in the various locations?
Location
United Kingdom
Norway
Denmark
Ireland
Netherlands
Canada
Canada
Vancouver
Average House price
USD444,179
USD450,850
USD350,299
USD449,665
USD396,320
USD335,180
USD564,702
Canada as %
75.4%
74.3%
95.7%
74.5%
84.5%
100%
59.3%
Others as % of Canada
132.5%
134.5%
104.5%
134.1%
118.3%
100%
176.1%
Vancouver as %
128.1%
129%
132.3%
132%
164.3%
176.1%
100%
Figures are the most current that could be found.
Canada house prices from:
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical/Q1_2008.pdf
UK House prices from:
BBC NEWS | In Depth | UK House Prices | Overview
Irish house prices from:
Ireland/Irish House Prices, Housing Market, Prices, NCB Stockbrokers, Index, 2009, Europe, Australia, US : Finfacts Ireland
Denmark, Norway and Netherlands house prices from:
House Prices Worldwide - N
Immediately, it can be seen that although Canada as a whole has the cheapest house prices among those studied Vancouver has by far the highest house prices of any of the locations of the various CHC Companies.
How then do the salaries paid by the various companies compare to the price of housing. The following table gives an idea:
Location
United kingdom
Norway
Denmark
Ireland
Netherlands
Canada
Vancouver
Average House Price
USD444,179
USD450,850
USD350,299
USD449,665
USD396,320
USD335,180
USD564,702
Salary
$184,138
$209,047
$206,062
$191,698
$182,629
$89,039
USD89,039
Salaries as % of Housing Price
41.4%
46.3%
58.8%
42.6%
46.1%
26.5%
15.7%
House Price as multiple of Salary
2.41
2.15
1.69
2.34
2.17
3.76
6.34
Cost of Living
So, if Vancouver has the highest house prices but Canada overall the lowest house prices then how does Canada compare with the other OECD countries and CHC company locations with regard to the Cost of Living?
Here again, the best information available was to be found from the Economist magazine which publishes Cost of Living rankings for major cities around the globe twice annually. Information regarding Cost of Living was not found on a country by country basis but rather as a city comparison.
For example, in the latest Cost of Living comparison issued by the Economist in December of 2007 the most expensive city in the world was Oslo in Norway with other European cities being in the top 10. The benchmark city used in the economist survey is New York in the United States which is given the value of 100. The following table gives an idea of the cost of living.
Cost of Living
United Kingdom
Norway
Denmark
Ireland
Holland
Canada
City
London
Oslo
Copenhagen
Dublin
Amsterdam
Toronto
Ranking
3
1
2
4
16
19
Index (New York = 100)
125.9
144.2
129.8
122.7
103.6
99.7
Canada as %
79.2%
69.1%
76.8%
81.2%
96.2%
100%
Others as % of Canada
126.2%
144.63%
130.2%
123.0%
103.9%
100%
Cost of Living index from:
Dublin fourth most expensive city of 71 global cites - Kuala Lumpur cheapest according to UBS report and then click on the following link:
Prices and Earnings, 2008 update
Looking at the above table it is apparent that Toronto is less expensive than all the other cities in which we are interested, being more than 31% less expensive than Oslo in Norway but only marginally (4%) less expensive than Amsterdam.
Conclusions:
What deductions can be made then from the above data? Or more importantly, does it appear, from the numbers given that CHC Global employees are under paid in comparison to their compatriots in Europe? In a word, yes. There is enough information found to show that there is a large discrepancy between the various locations.
CHC Global employees are paid, on an average about 45.9% of their compatriots in Europe. Yet the cost of living in Canada, on average, is 82.4% of what it is in the European countries in our study and the cost of housing in Canada is, on average, 77.8% of what it is in European compatriots’ countries.
In other words the cost of housing and living in Canada is only about 20% less expensive on average than Europe, provided we exclude the exorbitant cost of housing in Vancouver. If Vancouver house prices were to be included then the discrepancy would be rather shocking with the CHC Global salary equal to no more than 15% of the cost of the average Vancouver home as opposed to some of those in Europe where the average salary paid is equal to 41% to 58% of the cost of a house. Even taking only Canada into account for the CHC Global employee the cost of a house is about 4 times the employee’s salary.
While it is cheaper to live in Vancouver than any of the other cities, and cheaper also to buy a house in Canada than elsewhere, these two facts do not assuage the lesser monies paid to CHC Global employees. Clearly it would not be a wise decision for a CHC Global employee to live in Vancouver where the cost of housing far outstrips the salary paid.
How much then are CHC Global employees underpaid given that their salaries are less than one half that of those in Europe yet the Cost of Living and the cost of housing (ignoring Vancouver) is only 20% less than Europe? Taking these items into account it would appear that the average CHC Global employee is grossly underpaid in relation to fellow CHC employees in Europe.
Taking the above study into account it would appear that the CHC Global salaries should be only about 20% less than those of the CHC European employees. In dollar terms the average salary paid in European CHC companies to an off-shore Captain at the top of the payscale is USD194,714, yet CHC Global equivalent captain only receives USD89,039 or 47.7% of the European equivalent even though, as we have seen above, the cost of living and house prices are about 80% of what they are in Europe. Using the above numbers, and if we wanted to see the equivalent pay for a CHC Global captain then the apparent salary for the CHC Global employee should then be USD155,768, or approximately 80% of the average European salary of USD194,714.
This puts a CHC Global employee at a minimum of USD66,736 disadvantage to an equivalent European employee and a dramatic salary restructuring would be needed to bring parity to the salary equation.
The above numbers clearly show that in every aspect of this comparison the average CHC Global employee is in a far worse financial position than his/her equivalent European counterpart.