Women for Women : Male directors’ salaries continue to exceed those of their female counterparts / CIM research

Director disparity: marketing salary survey reveals widening gender pay gap

• —    Male directors’ salaries continue to exceed those of their female counterparts
• —   SMEs most optimistic about pay increases for the coming year
• —   Despite economic uncertainty, 9 out of 10 marketers report fair to excellent job satisfaction

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The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s latest Marketing Rewards salary survey*, released today, reveals the striking difference between the salaries enjoyed by male marketing directors in contrast to their female counterparts.  The survey revealed that on average compared with last year, the pay gap between male and female marketers at director level has grown by 10 per cent.

Consistent with findings of previous years and perhaps fuelled by recent times of austerity, low job security in the public sector was evident, with 38 per cent of public sector marketers reporting a pay freeze while over three quarters (81 per cent) of private sector marketers enjoyed a pay rise averaging 3 per cent.  This is in contrast to the overall average pay increase for marketing professionals in the survey being 2.4 per cent, less than the 3 per cent forecast in last year’s survey.

Furthermore, marketers in the manufacturing sector, already paid more than their counterparts in both the private or voluntary sector, topped the league with 88 per cent reporting a rise, which is perhaps indicative of more than half (60 per cent) reporting they work over 40 hours per week.

*Survey conducted for The Chartered Institute of Marketing by Croner, the UK’s largest provider of workplace information, software and services. Survey information is drawn from the Institute’s members and features around 5000 jobs taken from around 2000 organisations of all sizes in all roles.

Encouragingly, over 41 per cent of directors received a bonus, in contrast to 37 per cent last year, and over a third (40 per cent) of heads of marketing typically received a bonus averaging £9,000, compared with 44 per cent last year.  Despite the proportion of senior and middle marketing managers who received a bonus in 2013 remaining the same as the previous year, the value of bonuses has risen, suggesting that the contribution of marketers to the bottom line is increasingly valued by their organisations.

Significant differences between public and private sector marketers were reported in their promotion prospects and job security.  Compared to private sector marketers, a feeling of job insecurity was reported by almost twice as many marketers in the public sector than any other.  It may come as no surprise then that this sector reported the highest proportion of marketing professionals seeking to move job (44 per cent).

Despite these differences and the turbulent economic difficulties of late, the survey highlighted positive attitudes across the industry.  Over three-quarters (78 per cent) of marketers feel their pay is in line with or above the market, and 9 out of 10 reported fair to excellent job satisfaction, with 76 per cent feeling they have at least some promotion prospects, up from 62 per cent last year.

Thomas Brown, Associate Director, Research and Insights at The Chartered Institute of Marketing said;  “We know from our on-going research amongst the UK marketing community that the early signs of a recovery are becoming more established and these latest results support this improving outlook. Whilst the public sector continues to suffer the lag effect on a protracted and tough period of economic turbulence, we’re encouraged to see the private sector demonstrating increased levels of confidence and optimism. The can-do attitude and high job satisfaction revealed by these latest results reinforce the appeal and reward of a marketing career, and support our firm belief that marketers are well-placed to lead organisations from economic survival to sustainable growth.

He added, “Of concern is the widening of the gender pay gap at director-level, particularly given the improvements we’d seen last year. We know that there are still challenges we have to overcome to ensure that any marketer – regardless of gender – has an equal opportunity to reach the very top of our profession, but we urge organisations to ensure that they are remunerated fairly when they get there.”