Friday | 9 January, 2009
CIO
Can't Buy Them Love: IT Leaders' Compensation Increases but Job Satisfaction Plummets
Research from the latest Harvey Nash CIO survey also reveals IT leaders feel less strategic and influential inside their companies, even though they're making progress on the IT-business alignment front
Meridith Levinson 09 April, 2008 11:32:58

The old adage "money doesn't buy happiness" proves true in a new survey of IT leaders commissioned by executive search firm Harvey Nash USA and sponsored by KPMG. The survey, which drew 258 responses from CIOs, CTOs, senior- and mid-level IT managers and other C-level executives, found that IT leaders' compensation is on an upward trajectory.

Despite the money they're making, fewer IT leaders say they're satisfied with their jobs this year

According to the results, 75 percent of respondents earn a base salary of more than $US125,000 per year; that's up from 70 percent last year and 36 percent two years ago. And 56 percent of respondents say that they earn an annual salary of more than $US150,000, compared with 41 percent last year. At the top, 29 percent of respondents report earning more than $US200,000 per year, compared to 19 percent last year. Harvey Nash's findings look similar to the compensation data from our 2008 State of the CIO research.

In addition to increases in base salaries, more IT leaders are getting retention bonuses. The number of IT leaders receiving such bonuses has skyrocketed in two years, from six percent to 22 percent, says the Harvey Nash survey.

No wonder that 80 percent of respondents report being satisfied with their compensation.

Despite the money they're making, fewer IT leaders say they're satisfied with their jobs this year. In 2007, 88 percent of IT leaders called their jobs fulfilling, compared with 79 percent this year. And one-fifth of respondents (21 percent) don't find their jobs fulfilling.

Consequently, 28 percent of respondents say they're hunting for a new job and the 54 percent who aren't actively looking say they'd entertain calls from recruiters.

One factor fuelling that eagerness to switch jobs: CIOs feel less influential in their roles and in their organizations, according to the survey. The number of CIOs who view their role as becoming "more strategic" to their company declined from 80 percent last year to 69 percent this year.

What's more, fewer IT leaders now report to the CEO. Only 29 percent of the Harvey Nash survey respondents say their boss is the CEO, compared with 36 percent last year. (In our research, 41 percent of State of the CIO survey respondents call the CEO boss.)

More about Boss, KPMG
Featured Whitepaper Sponsors
Market Place
 

Smart SOA World Tour

Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.

Attend and learn:

  • How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
  • Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
  • The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid

Click here for more information.
  • +

    CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00

    For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders.
  • +

    CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25

    For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders.
  • +

    CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00

    Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
  • +

    CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00

    Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
  • +

    CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05

    Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
  • +

    TJX Maxx hacker banged up for 30 years 09 January, 2009 11:26:00

    Key figure in the infamous TJX Maxx Wi-Fi hack of 2005 has been sentenced to 30-years in prison by a Turkish court.
    Maksym Yastremskiy, the Ukrainian accused of being a key figure in the infamous TJX Maxx Wi-Fi hack of 2005, has been sentenced to 30-years in prison by a Turkish court.
  • +

    Data breaches rose sharply in 2008, says study 08 January, 2009 08:27:00

    More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.
    More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008 in the U.S., a figure that underscores continuing difficulties in securing information, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).
  • +

    Rogue SSL certificate exploit puts VeriSign on the spot 07 January, 2009 11:04:00

    Wishes "white hat" researchers had notified VeriSign before public demo.
    Following the success of researchers last week in creating a false SSL certificate based on VeriSign's RapidSSL brand, the company is scrambling to explain how it happened, how it's preventing it from reoccurring, and whether its other SSL certificate-generation services are at risk.
  • +

    With Gaza conflict, cyberattacks come too 05 January, 2009 08:03:00

    Pro-Palestinian hackers have defaced thousands of sites following attacks in Gaza.
    The conflict raging in Gaza between Israel and Palestine has spilled over to the Internet.
  • +

    5 ways to secure your Blackberry 18 December, 2008 12:58:00

    What do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your hands
    What do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your hands.
CIO Webcast Innovation #8 - What are the biggest roadblocks to IT's involvement in innovation at your company?
Watch the latest latest edition of CIO Innovation which is now available for download.
Watch the webcast
Sign up to the CIO Innovation update email


CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II
Listen to the latest edition of CIO Live which is now available for download.
Listen to the podcast
Sign up to the CIO Live email
Whitepaper

Best Practice in Building an Integrated Information Management Strategy

Discover the business value that creating an integrated information platform can bring. Learn how to provide consistent, accurate information to all stakeholders within your business network. Integrate vital data from disparate sources and deliver a trusted information foundation. Read on to uncover the stepping-stones to your new information management strategy.