A comparison of the average salaries paid by ICT companies and their financial performance reveals that the worst-performing company – the SABC – pays the highest salaries.

This research further showed that although state-owned enterprises performed much worse than private companies, they still matched or exceeded salaries in the private sector.

For this comparison the latest data available from South African ICT companies’ annual reports was used.

While state-owned enterprises list the average cost per employee, JSE-listed companies typically do not provide this information.

To calculate the average compensation per employee for JSE-listed companies, we used the company’s total staff bill and divided it by the total number of employees.

It should be noted that this calculation only provides an estimate of the average salary of employees.

SABC – high salaries and big losses

The data shows that, despite a loss of R622 million in its past financial year, the average salary at the SABC was the highest in the comparison – R744,008 per year.

While the government promised to address the financial challenges at the SABC, the average salary at the broadcaster increased from R726,240 last year.

The SABC did announce that it will embark on a retrenchment process as part of its strategy to address the financial mess it finds itself in, but the ANC was quick to attack this plan.

ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule said the ANC has taken a decision that retrenchments at state-owned enterprises, including the SABC, should not be allowed.

Salaries versus financial performance

Private companies, which have to ensure a healthy financial performance, offer high salaries too – but these are accompanied by profits.

Vodacom, for example, paid the second highest salaries at R741,329 per employee, but this can be justified with an operating profit of R24 billion over the last year.

Unlike state-owned enterprises, private companies do not have the luxury of paying big salaries or having too many employees when they make a loss.

When profits start to shrink, staff cuts are never far away.

The table below shows the average salary per employee per company, and the profit/loss per employee at that company.