IT Salaries In North America To Creep Up A Bit In 2013

January 14, 2013 Jenny Thomas

Most of us who have managed to stay employed during the last few years of tough economic times are just grateful to be working. Economic unrest has forced companies to drastically downsize or completely shut down, and IT departments have not been spared as many businesses struggle to survive. In many ways, the IT department has done better than other parts of companies, thanks to the ubiquity and necessity of computing, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been stress.

The good news is that IT pros will see an improvement in pay this year, according to the 2013 IT Salary Survey from Janco Associates. The survey, which was conducted by Janco and eJobDescription.com during the last quarter of 2012, includes data from 249 large and 785 mid-sized organizations. The results revealed that salaries and hiring have improved for IT positions in most North American metropolitan areas.

“Salaries are up 1.98 percent for IT pros in the past 12 months and the big winners are CIOs, especially those in larger enterprises,” said Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco.

Although the salary increase is just under 2 percent, for employees who have gone years without any bump in pay, even a little bit of dough will bring some welcome relief. In dollars, Janco found that between January 2012 and January 2013, the total mean compensation for all IT professionals increased from $77,773 to $79,312. This jump aligns overall compensation to levels seen between January 2007 and 2008 levels. (Yes, it’s 2013, but we gotta take the good news where we can get it.)

When broken down by the size of the organization, mid-sized enterprises saw the total mean compensation for all positions increase by 2.39 percent, from $74,016 to $75,784, while the median compensation at large enterprises rose 1.61 percent from $81,531 to $82,840.

Source: Janco.

When compared over the long-term, it appears that IT executives have fared better in mid-sized companies than large companies; the executive salaries in mid-sized companies IT have recovered all of the losses sustained in the Great Recession except for a few cases, whereas execs in large companies are just now seeing salaries creep back up to 2008 levels.

CIOs, in particular, have seen their compensation increased in the past 12 month, with the mean base compensation for survey respondents being higher and with bonuses being are about the same as were received in the prior year. The mean compensation for CIOs in large enterprises is now $182,210 (an increase of 6 percent) and $165,820 (an increase of 1.6 percent) in mid-sized enterprises. Job retention has also seen a teeny increase, with median CIO tenure gaining one month, to four years and three months. This is one of the primary drivers for increased compensation for that position.

While companies are finding ways to inch up the pay, they also continue to refine the benefits provided to IT professionals, although not always in the employee’s favor. In particular, the survey found that while healthcare benefits are available to 82 percent of the respondents, IT professionals said they are now paying a greater portion of the cost for those benefits.

Source: Janco.

Cost control still appears to be the first priority for most organizations (to be fair, just like it is for most of us at home), but the survey did show an increase in the number of part-time workers and contractors who are focused on particular critical projects. Layoffs were reported to be tapering off, however some companies will continue to look for ways to cut the size of the IT organizations.

The positions reported to be in highest demand as we head into 2013 are all associated with quality control, records management, and data center operations management. Respondents also indicated that outsourcing has peaked and more companies are looking to bring IT operations back into their direct control. Also, a number of enterprises are moving help desks and data center operations in-house, which has resulted in an increase demand for data center managers.

Janco has captured IT compensation data since 1996 and publishes its IT Salary Survey semi-annually. The 2013 salary survey is available for purchase here.