He explained that “the common phrase in the business world is that 'no one is indispensable,' but at a time when every dollar is precious, letting people go in risk management could actually end up costing the company a lot more than they'd save in salary and benefits if property and liability losses rise as a result. It's counterproductive.”

While a number of risk managers have lost their jobs because their companies went out of business, were acquired or merged with another firm, most have come through the economic crisis better than colleagues in other departments, Mr. Perry suggested, because of the evolution of the profession beyond mere insurance purchasing.

“It used to be that risk managers lamented not being seen as a profit center. That's why many chose to go the captive route—to make themselves a player within the company, and show what they can add to the bottom line,” he said. “But now, with consumer spending so far off, and revenue growth so hard to come by, all of a sudden cost control is king–and that's the sweet spot for risk managers.”

Senior management also has recognized that downsizing opens the organization up to additional exposures, putting risk managers on the front lines of claims control and litigation management, said Mr. Perry.

“When you have mass layoffs, casualty claims are likely to rise,” he noted. “You can expect more people to file for workers' comp, not only among those who were let go, but because fewer people are being asked to do more work in the same period of time–perhaps in jobs they are not accustomed to handling–which usually means more injuries. And you can expect more employment practices suits among those who were laid off if they are a member of a protected class.”

All of these factors work to the advantage of risk managers, whose expertise will be required to properly execute downsizing and work reassignments, and whose relationships with brokers and carriers will be essential to manage any rise in claims, Mr. Perry pointed out.

“The pressure to stay on top of all of this, while maintaining safety standards and quality control in the midst of budget cuts, is very high,” he said. “So all of a sudden, risk management is seen as a critical player in the battle to keep costs under control.”

That doesn't mean risk managers will see their departments fortified any time soon to meet the new challenges and additional workload they face in this tough economy, warned Mr. Perry.

“The fact that 90 percent reported not expanding the risk management department in the past year does not surprise me,” he said. “Very few companies are expanding their payrolls today.”

He added that “risk managers are undoubtedly working harder, if only because they are under more pressure to perform and justify their budgets. But in this economy, holding your own in terms of staffing is a huge achievement and demonstrates your bottom-line value to the organization.”

Mr. Perry also said he is not particularly surprised that the satisfaction levels of those surveyed are overwhelmingly positive despite the poor economy and generally stagnant salary levels. Indeed, he believes that the 94.4 percent job satisfaction rating is “not an anomaly.”

“Historically, I've found that risk managers as a whole tend to like the work they do, in good times and bad,” he said. “They are problem-solvers, and the bigger the challenge, the more energized they get because it raises their profile in the organization.”

Money still makes a big difference in a risk manager's outlook, the survey found.

Those who characterized themselves as “very satisfied” averaged nearly $146,000 in salary and about $29,000 in bonuses, making much more than those who said they are merely “satisfied” ($120,000 in average salary and $15,600 in bonuses). The 5.6 percent who are “dissatisfied” averaged just under $100,000 in salary and only $8,675 in bonuses.

Bottom line, according to Mr. Perry, “would risk managers like to be paid more, or work at a bigger company or in a more challenging industry? Of course many would, but that's always the case.”

However, he added, “in times like these, if they have a job and they like the work they're doing, they're feeling pretty good about themselves right now, and that was reflected in the survey.”

(To read more about the survey results, including salary and bonus averages broken down by size of company, gender and job satisfaction, see http://bit.ly/aPrRCd.)