Top execs take a pay leap

As one would expect, salaries between individuals can vary greatly depending on their level of responsibility. Results from Salary Survey 2005 indicated that executive managers earned anything between R35 031 a month in a small organisation, that is with 10 employees or less, and R55 219 a month in an organisation with 100 or more employees.

[TABLE]Moving down the scale, operational managers earned between R13 628 and R29 360 a month, depending on the size of organisation they were employed by, but on average almost half that of their executive counterparts.

The difference between staff and operational management earnings was not as great, with staff recording earnings of anything between R12 594 and R18 259 a month, depending on the size of the organisation.

Staff salaries were further analysed according to whether they involved a sales and marketing, technical or administration orientation. Sales and marketing staff earned the highest salaries in this subcategory of employees, namely R20 554 a month on average, followed by technical staff (R19 291 a month), while admin staff earned the least - an average of R14 706 a month. The highest salary recorded in the staff category of respondents was reportedly R100 000 a month for what one would suspect is a very productive IT sales specialist, followed by a developer claiming to earn R83 333 a month.

[CHART]Worth noting is that technical staff who progressed to an operational management level were the highest earners (R27 132 a month) in this subcategory of employees. They earned slightly higher salaries than business developers, consultants and sales managers. In terms of the highest earnings recorded in this subcategory, a certain software development manager took this honour, indicating earnings of an impressive R125 000 a month.

Executive salaries differed more substantially within the subcategory, with MDs or CEOs earning an average of R48 978 a month, nearly R10 000 a month more than CTOs and CIOs. CFOs or financial directors and sales directors both earned a median of about R45 500 a month. Some impressive maximum salaries recorded were a CEO who claimed to earn R125 000 a month, a CIO who earned R116 000 a month, and a sales/marketing executive who earned R104 167 a month.

[CHART]This year, we offered a greater number of options for respondents to choose in the question of where you work. The reason is that previous categories of industries, such as construction, mining, agriculture and engineering, for example, were too broad in definition, so some were now offered as separate options.

As it turns out, IT professionals (a mere 1.57% of the sample) employed in the mining and petrochemicals industry claimed the highest earnings: R28 999 a month on average. They surpassed, for the first time in recent memory, IT professionals employed in the services and consulting industry, who made up just over 20% of the sample, the largest grouping in any one sector, and earned an average of R25 633 a month.

The nearly 8% of respondents employed in the telecommunications sector earned the third-highest salaries: R25 064 a month.

The second-largest grouping of respondents (17%), that is IT professionals employed in software development by the ICT sector, earned an average of R21 835 a month.

[CHART]It would seem that the advertising, marketing and public relations industry pays its IT professionals the lowest average salaries, namely R16 088 a month.

The nearly 8% of respondents employed in the telecommunications sector earned the third-highest salaries: R25 064 a month.

The second-largest grouping of respondents (17%), that is IT professionals employed in software development by the ICT sector, earned an average of R21 835 a month.

It would seem that the advertising, marketing and public relations industry pays its IT professionals the lowest average salaries, namely R16 088 a month.

[CHART]A reassuring result of the survey is the indication that the gap between average monthly salaries earned by men and women IT professionals appears to be narrowing marginally. The average man earned R23 523 a month, while the average woman earned only R19 147 a month - a difference of R4 276 a month.

Compare this to last year, when men and women earned, on average, R24 180 and R19 823 respectively (a difference of R4 357 a month), and in 2003, where they earned R22 090 and R18 130 respectively (a difference of R3 960 a month).

Worth noting, though, is that women made up just under 20% of the sample.

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