InformationWeek

September 27, 1999

Behind The Numbers:
CIOs' Pay Continues To Climb

bar chart n old economic axiom says "a rising tide lifts all boats." Although that may be true in general, some boats still seem to rise a bit higher than average.

Take the salaries earned by senior IT managers, for example. The yearlong InformationWeek Research National IT Salary Survey indicates that, among other factors, the booming economy and low unemployment rate helped push the average senior manager's base salary up 10.8% this year to $85,000. CIOs did even better, with an 11.8% raise to $88,000, compared with a 10.4% raise to $83,000 for IT managers at the VP and director level.

But the survey of 3,839 senior managers indicates that the industry in which you work has a major impact on how much money you're paid. The tide may be rising for everyone, but it's rising a lot faster in some industries than in others. For example, the typical senior manager (CIO, VP, or director of IT) at a computer-hardware manufacturer will earn a median base salary of $106,000 this year. That's $23,000 more than the median at non-computer manufacturers.

As you might expect, senior managers in government, education, and nonprofit organizations fare the worst, with a median base salary of $70,000 or less.

What's happening with the salaries in your industry? Let us know at the E-mail address below.

John Eckhouse
Managing Editor/Research
jeckhous@cmp.com

This week in Behind The Numbers:

Men Remain Higher Paid

Experience Pays Off

Larger Companies Pay More

Large Companies, Many Vacancies

Men Remain Higher Paid

In the "ho-hum, that's old news" category, this year's InformationWeek Research salary survey indicates that male senior managers continue to earn more than their female counterparts. Male CIOs have a median base salary that's $10,000 higher than that of female IT chiefs. The discrepancy is $9,000 for VPs and directors of IS.

But there's some small indication that change is on the way. Female senior managers are getting a median pay raise of 7% this year, compared with 6.7% for male managers. At that rate, however, it will take many years to reach pay parity.

Experience Pays Off

Generally, the older you are, the higher your salary as a senior manager. But the median salary for VPs and directors over the age of 55 is actually lower than for those between 46 and 55.

That's not true for CIOs. Apparently, by the time you reach 55, you need to rise to the position of CIO or your compensation will stall. The other notable discrepancy is that VPs and directors in the age range of 26 to 35 earn more than CIOs of the same age. That's most likely because there are fewer highly compensated CIOs in this age group to provide a good comparison.

Larger Companies Pay More

Bigger companies pay bigger bucks. Base salaries for senior IT managers range from $72,000 at small companies to $94,000 at midsize and $105,000 at large enterprises. Not surprisingly, then, far more senior managers at large companies are satisfied with their total compensation than those at midsize and small companies.

Asked to rate their contentment with compensation, 73% of senior managers at large companies say they're very satisfied or satisfied. That compares with 65% at midsize and 59% at small companies. Given their sizable salaries, however, almost no senior manager would acknowledge being very dissatisfied with his or her compensation.

Large Companies, Many Vacancies

Since there's generally only one CIO per company, only 7% of CIOs say there are openings at their organizations for their type of position. It's not much higher for VPs and directors, at 12%.

But viewed by company size, the results look different. Overall, 11% of senior managers say there are openings for their positions. However, managers at larger companies are more than three times as likely as those at small companies to say there are job openings. And there could be more openings soon, since more than 70% of all senior managers have been contacted by a headhunter in the past year.

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