Key Findings for Marketers from this years salary survey

Kika, Consultant on our digital marketing team has gone into detail on how the industry is shaping out to be in 2022. She shares some of her key findings from this years salary & benefits survey…

Gender Split

It is refreshing to see a female dominated industry, and this year’s results from the survey revealed that Marketing continues to set the bar in this regard.
Not only has the number of Females working in Marketing increased by 8% from last year, Marketing has grown to be an even more female dominated industry as 57% Female vs 43% Male – an increased split of 12% from last year.

Bonus

The renumeration of bonuses on top of base salary is always an important factor for candidates within the Marketing industry. Results revealed that over half of Marketers (54%) receive a bonus with the majority of them (47%) being discretionary.

This is followed by 37% when hitting their target and 7% who are offered equity or stock options – the latter statistic is also above average across digital as a whole!

Satisfaction

Salary satisfaction has continued to improve this year in Marketing with a total of 52% “satisfied” or “very satisfied” respondents. This has increased by 10% from year.

As a result of an increasingly competitive market, the results from the survey have reflected a decrease in renumeration dissatisfaction as 21% responded “dissatisfied” and 6% responded “very dissatisfied” compared with 27% “dissatisfied” last year.

It is positive to see that companies are responding to the state of the market and rewarding employees appropriately however there seems to be room for improvement here compared to other industries’ results.

Top 3 biggest challenges

The survey also asked respondents from the industry what were the biggest challenges they faced last year.

Noticeably, the hiring and onboarding process was rated as the biggest challenge for the Marketing industry – this is likely a combination of the high level of turnover during the pandemic and onboarding becoming a remote process over the last few years.   

Interestingly, the second biggest challenge was company growth, at 35% and 29% responded that matching salary demands has been another significant challenge which is likely to be a reflection of the need to remain competitive in a candidate strong market.

Benefits vs benefits wanted

Flexible working has quickly become an expected benefit within the majority of businesses and this year’s survey has reflected that it is also one of the most desired amongst Marketing candidates, alongside a more flexible benefits package and unlimited annual leave.

Interestingly, flexible working is about right for those wanting and receiving the benefit with only a 1% variance – it is offered by 75% of businesses!

However, unlimited annual leave is desired by 20% but not fully received with a 17% variance in those who receive the benefit versus those who desire it. Additionally, a flexible benefits package is offered by 12% of businesses but desired by 22% of Marketers.

It looks like additional benefits will continue to be a key point to consider for employers over the coming years as 4 day weeks and unlimited holiday are more widely discussed.

Reasons why Marketers left their last role

Our survey shows that 34% of Marketers left their role because of a lack of progression opportunities which is an increase from last year (29%).

33% left because of poor work environments/cultures which has continued to rise from 28% in 2021 and 18% in 2020. Further, 23% of Marketing candidates left their last role for increased pay.

These results demonstrate that those working in Marketing are feeling more challenged (perhaps due to increased workload) yet are lacking the remuneration that reflects this as well as the reward of progression.

How Marketers found their last role

The most common way of finding your next role in Marketing was reported to be on LinkedIn (32%). This is closely followed by finding a role through a recruiter or head-hunter at 30%. Additionally, 16% of Marketing candidates found their next role through personal networks.

Interestingly, only 9% of respondents found their last role by going direct which suggests that utilising an agency’s network proves to be a significantly more successful way of finding your next role in Marketing. 

Important factors in their job search  

Predictably, the biggest motivator for Marketers to move roles is salary and bonus as 79% of respondents said that salary and bonus is the most important factor in their job search. Interestingly, this has decreased by 9% from last year’s results.

A significant number of Marketing employees reported that Culture is another important factor in their job search with 64% of them having left their roles for better working environment.

Progression was also found to be an important factor in Marketers’ job search as half of the respondents reported that being able to progress and develop in their current workplace was the most important factor to consider when looking for a new role. Further, 13% of Marketers left their role due to ‘lack of training or development’; understandably, 89% of those surveyed find development ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

These results go hand in hand and remain consistent with the conclusion that being rewarded for one’s hard work is one of the most important factors within the industry.

If you would like to learn more about salaries and benefits across the digital space, download your copy of the 2022 Salary & Benefits Survey via our homepage. 

Additionally, if you are looking for opportunities in digital marketing reach out to me Kika - Kika.Schneider@spherelondon.co.uk