Head of Compensation & Benefits - Derry

Head of Compensation and Benefits Jobs

In the modern company, competition to land the best talent is almost as prized as it is to win market share in the sector. It has long been recognized that employees’ contributions to a company can make or break it, and that employees who feel undervalued – rightly or wrongly – will soon start looking elsewhere. It is the head of compensation and benefits’ job to use pull factors such as salaries, bonuses, pensions etc. to attract and retain employees.

The role requires a strategic mindset, as employees’ motivations change as they serve more time at a company and climb its ladder. A programme of review and assessment will need to be put in place or maintained, and liaison with employees’ managers will help guide the compensation and benefits decisions for individual employees. Essentially that will mean making cost-benefit analyses for each employee and rewarding them appropriately. While the role might be overseeing a compensation team in larger companies, in smaller ones, the task may be all down the head herself or himself.

Head of Compensation & Benefits Jobs in Derry

Derry is often called Londonderry after being granted a royal charter by James I (and is called Derry-Londonderry on its UK City of Culture 2013 website). The county, city and district variously share the name, but they all refer to the same place. Derry was the last city in Europe to be walled, in the early 17th century, and most if not all of the wall remains today. It was an important seaport, and played a huge part in World War II owing to its position as the westernmost port in the UK, indeed Allied Europe, as Iceland was neutral.

In peacetime, the city had a reputation as a shirt maker, with several factories springing up to make men’s shirts for export and domestic use. As with the Northern mill towns of England, however, this industry was all but gone by the 1980s, with most of this kind of work moving to Asia.

An important employer in the city has been Du Pont, who made Neoprene there for years, and more recently switched production to Kevlar and Lycra. There is also a burgeoning hi-tech manufacturing sector in the city. Seagate Technology, one of the world’s top hard disk drive manufacturers, makes more than half of its read/write heads in the Derry factory. The city is also home to Northern Ireland’s largest private company, Desmonds, plus a healthy smattering of multinationals.

With a population of around 100,000, a thriving shopping centre and a good deal of industry popping up in this regenerating city, Derry would appear to be a prime location to look for Head of Compensation & Benefits positions.