Product key findings from our 2022 Salary Survey

Amna, Consultant on our Product team shares insight on some of the key findings from our Salary & Benefits survey this year...

Looking back at 2021, researching key trends and speaking with many people in my network, we have complied a detailed overview for those working in Product roles regarding salary changes, benefits packages and reasons why people moved roles in 2021. We hope this will advise you on trends in the Product market.

Looking at the Product industry in detail, some of the key areas we highlighted were:

Gender Split

Although traditionally more Male dominated, we have seen a gender equal industry emerge over this last year: Female 50% vs Male 50% in 2022, compared to Female 47% vs Male 53% in 2021 and Female 53% and Male 60% in 2020.

Over the last year, I have noticed an increased number of female applicants for roles of all levels. Factors like remote working and flexible hours have been reasons as to why female candidates applying to a wider variety of Product roles.

Bonus

Bonuses are commonplace among Product professionals, and this has increased by 5% in 2020, now at 68% and increasing from 63% in 2021.

Discretionary bonuses has overtaken ‘performance’ or ‘target-based’ bonuses as the most popular form of bonus and are becoming more prominent amongst those working in Product roles: the number who receive this type of bonus has significantly increased from 39% in 2020, to 58% in 2021, and now at a very attractive 77% in 2022.

This alongside the overall increased benefits for many companies has made overall packages in the Product industry sought after.

Salary Satisfaction

We can see from this year’s data that there has been an increase in satisfaction for those working in Product roles compared to 2021:

• 26% of Product professionals were “Satisfied” with their salary in 2022
• 17% are “very satisfied”
• 17% are “dissatisfied” with their salary and only 5% are “very dissatisfied” (this was previously 32% and 18% respectively, in 2021)
• 36% feel neutral about their salaries

There has been a tremendous increase in satisfaction since last year and most candidates I speak with join or want to stay within Product purely because of the potential to earn excellent levels of salary.

This could be attributed to the increasing demand for Product professionals. With Product being such a niche space, we are seeing clients offer more and being more flexible on salary to secure candidates that they want and is a trend we will continue to see in the coming months.

Benefits Received vs Benefits Wanted

Half of all respondents received between 20-25 days holiday per year, which has dropped by 11% since 2021 (61%).

38% receive 28-30 days, the second highest in any group we surveyed!

Flexible working remains the most common benefit with no difference in those desiring versus receiving flexible working benefits: 71% of businesses are offering this in 2022.

An area where the market has a big difference in desired vs received benefits was with unlimited annual leave; this benefit is highly desired by 29% however only 2% receive this, leaving a 27% variance.

Why people working in Product left their last role

This is something that is often touched upon in my conversations with clients and see below the most common answers:

1. Poor work environment/ culture (32%, up from 28% last year)
2. Lack of progression (27%)
3. For better / increased pay (25%)

How people working in Product found their last role

Working in the Mid-Senior Product market, I have noticed more and more that these professionals are looking for support from a recruiter – it takes a real level of stress away (or is supposed too) from the prospective candidates and allows them the ability to be removed from what can be tricky conversations or negotiations. No surprise then that the top result was through a recruiter or head-hunter:

1. Through a recruiter (36%)
2. LinkedIn (19%)
3. Job board and social network (both 14%)

Top factors in job search

As with the majority of other specialisms in the digital sector, salary and bonus is considered the most important factor when considering a move with 80% of respondents working in product management considering this as ‘very important’.

Culture remains the second most important factor, consistent with 2021 (61%). I have seen an increasing emphasis on team culture and company environment since the pandemic and the rise of working from home and this is probably still at the forefront for many people as they look for roles now.

Third, we have 49% of people that view progression as most important part of their jobs! 5% of product professionals view progression to be ‘unimportant’, this has increased by 1% since 2021. However, our data shows that 27% of those working in this specialism left their last role due to the ‘lack of progression opportunities.’

What can you do next?

We hope this salary survey has given you some key insights into the Product industry over the last year and you can see the changes in various sectors over the years.  Download the salary survey to benchmark your salary and benefits within the industry.