Introduction
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (the "HKCSS") has conducted annual NGOs Salary Survey (the "Survey") for the social service sector since 2003. Overseen by a Working Group composed of representatives from the social service sector, experts from the business sector and human resources management profession and conducted by an independent survey consultant, the survey aims to provide the most updated reference to assist Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in positioning their salary and benefits strategies to attract, motivate, reward and retain staff and revamping the relevant human resources management practices to meet the challenging operating environment. This year, the Survey includes the benefit survey which is conducted biennually.
In the past decade, the operating environment of the social service sector has kept on changing. The introduction of the Lump Sum Grant Subvention (LSGS) has transformed the resources management of the NGOs in the social service sector, especially in human resources management. NGOs are given the freedom to manage their staff structure, staff-mix and the level of salary and benefits under the new funding mode. To facilitate NGOs in determining the levels of salary and benefits with flexibility to meet their organizational requirements, more relevant and timely reference on the salary and benefits policy and strategy of the sectors should be made available.
The scope of the survey and salary data covered have been being modified to cope with the changing environment and practices of the sector. Apart from covering the salary data of full-time staff in-post whose salary structure does not strictly follow the Master Pay Scale (the "MPS"), more comprehensive information on salary structure with both starting and maximum salaries has also been collected since 2012. The enhancement provides a better understanding on the salary structure of the benchmarked positions of the sector. Without the contributions from the Participants and the Working Group, and the professional service rendered by the survey consultant, the Survey cannot be accomplished to provide the social service sector with valuable reference on the practices on salary and benefits. Over the past years, the participation has doubled its rate. This year, 97 Members have participated, with 11 of them being new participants.
One special remark has to be made this year. Regarding the salary data, special attention should be paid on the salary adjustment part as the delay in civil service pay adjustment this year may have implications to the practices of some of the Participants receiving LSGS. LSGS is one of the important factors underlying their salary adjustment, which could normally be reflected in the Survey. However, such factor cannot be truly reflected this year since Participants may adopt different approaches in response to the delay.
