Career & Salary Survey FY22 Trends
Written by Dominic Moore
Every 2 years we are excited to analyse the results from our latest career and salary survey and share with you the key insights.
Since we ran the FY20 survey back in 2019, we have seen consulting firm guaranteed salaries (base + super) increase by an average of 5%, with total remuneration (base + super + bonus) increasing on average by 13%. While salaries in industry, and day rates for interim consultants, have largely followed wage inflation over the last 2 years, in the latter part of 2021 we have seen salaries/day rates rise quickly and expect them to keep rising as companies compete for consulting talent.
Whilst everyone is keen to see how salaries have changed, we are also interested to see how people's behaviour and choices have changed over time. Below we take a look at the key trends across Consulting, Industry and Interim Consulting:
CONSULTING
ARE 60+ HOUR WEEKS ON THE DECLINE?
Since 2019 the number of consultants working 60+ hours a week has decreased from 44% to 32%.
PEOPLE CONTINUE TO LOOK TO MOVE TO INDUSTRY
The majority of consultants (54%) are looking to move to industry within the next 2 years (marginally down from 59% in 2019). 1 in 4 are currently actively looking for a new opportunity (up from 1 in 5 in 2019), with nearly 50% having received 5+ job approaches in the last 6 months (up from 44% in 2019).
PARTNER ASPIRATIONS REMAIN STEADY
47% of respondents aspire to become a Partner compared to 48% in 2019.
INDUSTRY
HOURS ARE GETTING SHORTER
The number of people working 60 hours + has decreased from 13% to just 3%.
PEOPLE CONTINUE TO LOOK FOR A NEW ROLE - NOW
84% of people are either actively looking (23%) or open to hearing about opportunities (61%), a steady figure compared to 2019. 36% of people have had 5+ job approaches in the last 6 months compared with 26% in 2019.
For the first time we asked whether people expected to be in a new role with a different company within the next 12 months and a whopping 1 in 3 do, with almost the same number expecting a promotion or lateral move within the same company - employers take note!
WILL PEOPLE WORKING IN INDUSTRY MOVE BACK TO CONSULTING?
For the first time we asked whether people had aspirations to move into, or back into, a consulting firm. Just 7% said yes with 40% answering maybe.
INTERIM CONSULTING
ARE LONG HOURS A THING OF THE PAST?
In line with both consulting and industry trends, the number of interim consultants working 60+ hour weeks has decreased from 13% in 2019 to just 6%.
UTILISATION RATES HAVE INCREASED SLIGHTLY
85% of interim consultants worked 26 weeks+ in the last year, compared to 79% in 2019. The number of interim consultants working 39-52 weeks remained steady (61% in 2021 vs 63% in 2019).
FLEXIBILITY AND MONEY AS KEY DRIVERS FOR INTERIM CONSULTANTS
For the first time we asked why people choose to be interim consultants and their reasons for choosing a project.
Just over half of respondents cited either greater flexibility or financial benefit as the primary reason they became an interim consultant. And when asked what the three most important factors to accept a project were, daily rate and work life balance were in the top 3, along with project type and content.