The Datum Report

Occupation 1136 · Managers, directors and senior officials

Human resource managers and directors

Half of full-time human resource managers and directors in the UK earn more than £57,529 a year, and half earn less.

Human resource managers and directors plan, organise and direct the personnel, training and industrial relations policies of organisations, advise on resource allocation and utilisation problems, measure the effectiveness of an organisation’s systems, methods and procedures and advise on, plan and implement procedures to improve utilisation of labour, equipment and materials.

How people enter it

There are no pre-set entry standards, although entry is most common with a degree or equivalent qualification. Relevant experience is important and internal promotion to management is possible. Off and on-the-job training is provided, and professional qualifications are available. Apprenticeships are available. NVQs/SVQs in relevant subjects are available at levels 3, 4 and 5.

What the work involves

• determines staffing needs
• oversees the preparation of job descriptions, drafts advertisements and interviews candidates
• oversees the monitoring of employee performance and career development needs
• provides or arranges for provision of training courses
• undertakes industrial relations negotiations with employees’ representatives or trades unions
• develops and administers salary, health and safety and promotion policies
• examines and reports on company and departmental structures, chains of command, information flows, etc. and evaluates efficiency of existing operations
• considers alternative work procedures to improve productivity
• stays abreast of relevant legislation, considers its impact on the organisation’s HR strategy and recommends appropriate action

Also called

Human resources business partner · Human resources director · Personnel manager · Recruitment manager · Training director

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for human resource managers and directors, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 10 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Charitable organisation managers and directors · Financial managers and directors · Functional managers and directors n.e.c. · Information technology directors · Marketing, sales and advertising directors · Public relations and communications directors · Purchasing managers and directors