Only 35% of HR departments have had to decrease the size of their department in the past year, while almost a quarter (23%) increased the number of staff and 42% reported no change in their HR staff numbers. But 20% of companies have had difficulty recruiting for HR roles in the past year.
The report, The HR Function - a Survey of HR Structures, Pay and Conditions, from employment information and research provider Incomes Data Service (IDS), is based on the responses of 178 organisations, with more than 7,000 HR staff and almost 600,000 employees.
The average (median) salary for an HR director in the UK is £91,350. And according to IDS, compensation and benefit specialist roles tend to be the highest paid. At manager level the median salary for a compensation and benefit specialist is £50,000, 7.3% higher than for a generalist HR manager - whose median salary is £46,335.
Graham Brown, author of the report, said: "Despite fears that the recession would bring sweeping job cuts to support functions within companies, staffing levels in most HR departments have remained robust."
"With almost a quarter of HR departments actually taking staff on over the past year, it seems like they have managed to avoid the worst ravages of the post credit crunch job cuts.
"Some HR departments may even argue that a recession actually creates more work for them. They may have to run complicated headcount reduction programmes or find cost savings through the introduction of new incentive packages.
"During a recession, pressure from their day-to-day tasks, such as managing performance and dealing with potential employment disputes, may also increase."
The IDS report finds that the most senior person in HR reports directly to the CEO at only 48% of organisations. HR is represented at board level in 67% of SMEs but only 55% of large organisations.
Brown said: "For many years HR has been seeking a seat at the ‘top table' - and it appears it still has much work to do.
"HR is still often seen in a support role - providing metrics and statistics to the finance or operations departments, rather than advising on strategy."