Median pay for North American IR heads remains in the $200,000-$249,999 range for the fifth consecutive year, according to the IR Magazine Global Salary Report 2016.
One third of IR chiefs in this region earn a base salary of at least $250,000. There are few outliers, with 84 percent of IR heads in North America having their pay fall into the three brackets between $150,000 and $349,999.
Median North American IRO pay remains at $100,000-$149,999, one pay bracket higher than the IRO global norm. The salary of 41 percent of North American IROs falls within this pay scale, with the same percentage seeing their base salary higher than this in 2016.
North American heads of IR are more likely to receive a bonus and that bonus is likely to be a higher percentage of salary than it is for heads in other regions. While the average bonus for IROs remains the same in 2016 as in 2015 at 21 percent of base salary, IR heads have seen their bonuses rise from 29 percent to 35 percent.
This increase is seen across all regions and cap sizes but is most pronounced in North America ‒ where IR heads now receive an average bonus of 39 percent of base salary ‒ and among mega-cap company IR chiefs, who have seen a rise in bonus of 13 percentage points from 36 percent to 49 percent.
The number of IR heads who received a larger bonus in 2016 is highest in North America, where 45 percent were rewarded with improved payouts. North American IR heads and IROs are also the most likely to have their bonuses related to company or individual performance.
For North American IR heads, median pay is one bracket higher for men than for women: 30 percent of male IR chiefs earn at least $250,000, compared with 14 percent of female IR heads. For North American IROs, nearly twice as many men earn $150,000 or above as do women (52 percent versus 28 percent).
Read the full IR Magazine Global Salary Report 2016 here.
