1 Pay & conditions

Annual salaries

This year's survey also shows that salaries growth is accelerating. Last year, salaries grew by 6% (from £31,350). The previous year they remained pretty stagnant.

This growth can be seen in the decline in the number of professionals in the lower earning brackets - 30% of respondents earn less than £25,000, but last year nearly 50% earned less than this amount.

Over 80% of industry professionals earn less than £50,000 and nearly 2% earn over £100,000.

Men continue to out-earn women. The average basic salary for a woman is £30,020, while for a man it is £38,040. Over 40% of women earn less than £25,000, compared to 25% of men. Nearly half of men earn more than £35,000 per year in full time employment whereas only 20% of women do.

The exclusive club of young high-earners is growing. Over 10% of under 25-year-olds earn more than £30,000. Last year only 2% achieved such large pay cheques.

But the real money comes along once you hit 26. Nearly 50% of the 26-35 year-olds earn more than £30,000. This is almost three-times the number that earned this amount last year (17%). And 10% earn £50,000 or more, with two respondents earning £100,000.

Over 25% of 36-45 year-olds earn more than £50,000, compared to 15% last year. One in six earns between £25,000 and £30,000 a year, half the number earning that amount last year.

And 30% of 46-55 year-olds earn more than £50,000 per year. A quarter earn between £30,000 and £40,000. Nearly one in 20 earns £100,000.

Not surprisingly, the highest earners are men. One in 20 men earns more than £80,000, with almost half that number earning £100,000. Only one woman earns more than £80,000.

The fat cats got fatter this year at the expense of the junior employees.

Top directors and partners enjoyed basic pay rises of over £5,000 to an average of £53,790. Senior management also enjoyed large pay increases with average pay rising by £3,260 to £50,250. But account handlers lost out by nearly £800, their average salaries fell to £23,470.

Risk managers also saw their basic salaries fall this year by over £4,000 to £40,380. On the other hand, middle managers and consultants enjoyed increases of over £1,000 and administrators saw a £640 average increase.

Bonuses

Just as salaries are increasing, so is the number of bonus payments.

Over 75% received a bonus this year, compared to 70% last year. The previous year only 60% enjoyed a top-up to their basic pay.

Eight respondents received a bonus of over £50,000, slightly down on last year. But the majority of those receiving a bonus were awarded less than £2,500, half receiving less than £1,000. The average bonus was £5,510.

The bonuses received by men were, on average, over double those received by women. Men received an average bonus of £6,460 this year, while women were awarded only £2,490. Last year, the average bonus for a man was £5,280; for a woman it was £1,560. Men are also more likely to receive bonuses than women. 78% of men received a bonus, while 71% of women enjoyed this extra payment.

The growth of bonus payments appears to be slowing, in some cases falling.

Chief executives and middle management saw slight increases in their bonus payments, but these were in the region of hundreds of pounds only (£110 and £560 respectively). Last year, chief executives enjoyed on average a £4,000 increase in their bonuses and other job categories saw bonuses double.

This year other job categories fared worse. Senior management, risk managers, administrators and junior account executives saw their bonuses fall.

Consultants and analysts were the winners this year in respect of bonus payments. Their bonuses increased by nearly £1,300.

Despite the fall in the size of bonus payments, people are still optimistic about receiving a bonus next year. Nearly 2% more professionals expect a bonus next year than received a bonus this year - a similar figure to last year's survey.

But people are less optimistic about the level of expected bonuses than they were last year. Less than 7% of respondents expect a bonus next year of greater than £20,000, compared to 20% last year.

Given that only 7% of people received bonuses of over £20,000 this year, the survey shows that professionals are more realistic about their potential bonus payments than they were last year.

Competitiveness

One in three respondents said that their gross salary was uncompetitive compared to the industry norm, the same number as last year.

The under-25s are most disgruntled with the size of their remuneration, with over a third expressing dissatisfaction.

But the youngsters are more satisfied than last year, when half of the under-25s took issue with their pay packet. A reflection, perhaps, of the growing number of high-earning young professionals?

Despite the continued discrepancy in pay levels, women and men score similarly in the their feelings about competitiveness of pay.

Benefits

Perks are continuing to grow in popularity. Last year the most popular benefit was private medical insurance, with just under 50% receiving a healthcare scheme. This year, PMI's position as the industry's favourite perk was further cemented, featuring in 53% of respondents packages.

Contributory pension schemes are also growing strongly. Just under 52% of those surveyed enjoyed this perk, compared to 45% last year. Non-contributory schemes, in contrast, are in decline. They feature in only 24% of packages, compared to more than 30% last year.

The workplace is however becoming less flexible and more formal, according to the respondents. Flexi-time schemes and home working are featuring less in benefits packages, falling from 20% last year to 16% and 18% respectively. And dress-down policies are also less common, showing in the low 40s compared to the high 40s last year.

But for those professionals who are losing a few benefits from their packages, be thankful that you are not among the 6% of respondents who said they received no benefits at all.

Working hours

Working hours have remained stable since last year. Over 50% of respondents said they were working more than eight hours a day - the same as last year - and 40% work under 8 hours a day. Just over 7% are working more than 50 hours a week, up only slightly from last year.

Annual leave

Holiday entitlements are remaining steady. 67% of respondents receive more than 25 days' holiday a year; and over 8% receive a very generous 30 days' holiday or more.

The situation is improving for the unlucky ones with little holiday entitlement.

The number of people with only 20 days' annual leave fell slightly this year from 14% to 11%.

Appraisals

Once a year and twice a year are the two most common appraisal frequencies - 45% of respondents are appraised once a year, while 35% are appraised twice a year.

The number of people appraised four or more times a year has dropped dramatically, falling from 15% last year to 2% this year. A reflection of the growing workload of line managers?

Seven per cent of employees are never appraised, with the older workers being appraised least. Those never apparaised were 11.5% of 56-65-year-old, 7.8% of 46-55-year-olds and 8.1% of 36-45-year-olds.

Lunch

UK insurance workers don't get much of a break at lunch time. Nearly 10% take less than 10 minutes for lunch. And less than 40% take less than half and hour.

The youngest and the oldest workers take the most time for lunch. Over 40% of under 25 year-olds and 35% of 56-65 year-olds take a lunch-break of more than 50 minutes.

Five per cent of respondents take on average more than an hour for lunch, the 36-55 year-olds taking below average.