Salary Survey

The current average basic salary excluding bonuses, directors' remunerations and benefits of UK insurance professionals is £33,260.The average basic salary from last year's salary survey was £31,350.The previous year's average was £31,300. So after a stagnant year, pay rises have beaten inflation this year with a 6% rise.Almost 50% of the industry's professionals earn less than £25,000 and just over 1% earn more than £100,000 including one in the 26-35 year old group.Men continue to out-earn women. One in four women earns less than £17,500 per year in full time employment. This compares to 15% of men. Almost half of men earn more than £30,000 per year, while the figure for women is less than a quarter. The average basic salary for a woman was £27,490, while for a man it was £35,020.If you are under 25 and earning more than £30,000 per year then you are in an exclusive club. Just 2% of our youngest respondents earned £30,000-£34,999 per year.Salaries can improve dramatically when you blow out more than 25 candles on your birthday cake. Some 17% of the 26-35 year-olds earn more than £35,000 per year with 5% earning £50,000 or more.More than 15% of 36-45 year-olds earn more than £50,000. While one in three earns between 25-35,000 per year in basic salary.One in twenty 46-50 year-olds earns a basic salary of more than £95,000 per year, while one in three earns between £30,000 and £40,000.The very highest earners are men. Twelve respondents earn more than the highest paid woman. She drew a basic salary of £80,000-£84,999 per year - one of only nine to be paid more than £50,000.Top of the league for pay rises in 2003 are middle managers, administrators and consultants. Middle manager saw their salaries rise to an average level of £35,400 that's up £3,600 on last time.Adminstrators' basic salaries rose 10% to £22,620 and consultants saw £3,000 more in their wage packets in 2003 than in 2002.

How big is your bonus?Bonuses are far more prevalent this year than last. Just over 70% received a bonus this year compared with 60% last time around.A dozen respondents received bonuses of over £50,000, but most people received much more modest rewards. Those receiving a bonus of less than £1,000 accounted for 20% of respondents and a further 18% received a bonus of £1,000-£2,499.While just over one in four men received no bonus the figure for women was 35%. However, 25% of women received a bonus of less than £1,000 compared to 19% of men. The figures for the next layer of bonues (£1,000-£2,499) were almost equal with 17% of men and 18% of women.People are cautiously optimistic about forthcoming bonuses. Some 2% more people expect bonus in the next year compared to the last. Where only 10% received a bonus of more than £20,000 last year, 20% expect a bonus of more than £20,000 this coming year.Men receive far better bonuses than women. The average bonus for a man is £5,280 compared to £1,560 for a woman.The increased level of bonuses received in 2003 reflect the hard market.Senior managers and junior account executives have double their annual bonuses in 2003 compared to our last survey. While chief executives are pocketed a cool £4,000 more in 2003 than they did in 2002.

Feeling undervalued?One in three respondents reckon that their salary is not-competitive against the industry norm, with half of the under 25s taking issue with the size of their pay packets.Despite the large discrepancies in pay levels women and men score similarly in their feelings about the competitiveness of pay

Salary hot spotsThe Midlands is the salary hot spot of Britain. Average basic salary there has risen by £7,000 to over £31,100 since the last survey. Other regions where wages are increasing apace are Wales which saw a rise of £4,400, London with a rise of £4,300 and East Anglia with a raise of £2,400.Two regions saw wages falling. Yorkshire workers received, on average, £2,000 less per year in 2003 than they did in 2002 and the South East saw a small increase of £240.

Which perks do you get?Perks are still in favour for the insurance industry. Despite a swing to cash in lieu of perks over recent years across UK business, the insurance industry is still fond of its perks.Private medical cover is the number one perk with almost 50% receiving a healthcare scheme.And pensions continue to show strongly. Just over 45% of those surveyed received contributory pension benefits and just over 30% had non-contributory schemes.Mobile phones are closing in on company car/car allowances at around the 40% mark, with dress-down policies and life assurance also showing well in the high 40s.Flexible working practices are becoming more common with one in five being able to work at home or working using flexi-time.

Are paymasters being too generous?Almost 45% of you reckon that your salary is competitive, while just over 30% reckon that their salaries are not competitive. As for the 22% of you who don't know whether your salary was competitive or not, perhaps your jobs are rewarding in many other ways.

Main training requirementsOther than general on-the-job skills, the major training requirement this year is for FSA regulations. Almost one in four voted for training on FSA requirements as the most important area of training required. The next highest scoring category was people management which attracted 10% of the vote.

Number of days' basic trainingAlmost one in five employees in the insurance industry receive no official training. And a further 44% receive fewer than five days' training. So just under 40% of employees receive more than five days training.

Annual leaveOver half of us receive 25 or more days holiday per year, with 5% receiving a very generous 30 days holiday - how could you spend so long away from our industry? At the other end of the scale, 14% are on 20 days holiday, looking to work their way up to the 25-day average.

Number of people in the officeThe majority of people in the insurance industry work in small offices.30% of respondents say they work in offices with fewer than 25 people.And 60% of those surveyed say they work in offices with less than 100 people.

Frequency of appraisalOne in ten 36-45 year olds is never appraised, our research shows. And overall, 8% of insurance industry employees are never appraised.At the other end of the scale, 15% of you are being appraised four times or more a year and 48% of you are being appraised just once per year.

FSA regulationJust over half of you reckon that FSA regulation will increase consumer confidence in the insurance industry, but one in four reckons that FSA regulation will not improve customer confidence.While consumers will gain confidence, insurers' and brokers' performance will improve. 63% of you said that insurance industry performance would improve under FSA regulation. However, the costs will be high.Just over 80% reckon that operating costs will increase because of FSA regulation and more than 60% say that pressure on premiums will increase because of regulation. And, of course, you are right at the height of all this action and so three out of every four reckon that your workload will increase through FSA regulations.

Hard marketDespite talk of the hard market turning soft in the forthcoming year, most of you reckon that rates will continue to be hard. Less than 20% of respondents say that they are worried the hard market will turn soft.While almost 40% of you aren't worried.

Lloyd's capacityWith the composites more reluctant to write some liability risks, just over one in four of you is using more Lloyd's capacity this year than previously, while 63% are not using more capacity from Lloyd's

What attracted you to your job?Personal development is the key driver for us being attracted to our jobs, according to the survey. So, employers, forget trying to dangle the salary carrot, show people how they can move upwards and onwards.Even the "people within your organisation" category scores higher with employees than basic salary as a reason for working with you.

HeadhuntersWatch out, watch out there's a headhunter about. If you are trying to keep your best staff be very afraid as at least half of the industry has been contacted by headhunters in the past year. And while for most of these, the contact has been just once or twice a small percentage has been contacted up to ten times.

RedundancyDespite jobs being outsourced to India or consolidated into fewer UK centres, most of you are not worried about redundancy. Less than 20% of respondents said they were worried about redundancy. And well over 30% are not worried about redundancy at all.

Length of serviceInsurance industry employees are loyal folk. One in ten people in the insurance industry has worked in the business for more than 30 years.And almost 60% have worked in the industry for more than ten years.Heritage issues mean that there is quite a discrepancy between the number of men who have worked in the business for more than 30 years (13%) compared to the number of women (3%).

About the respondentsWell over 700 people completed the survey this year - that's an increase on last year's response. Almost 74% were male. Interestingly, 16% of the female respondents were in the under 25 category. Just 10% of the males were in this category. In the 26-35 year-old category, 42% of the males and 42% of the females completed the survey.Just over 40% of the respondents work for brokers or other intermediaries, while 31% work for insurance companies. Claims managers/loss adjusters, accountants and information technology suppliers were the next most significant categories of respondent, according to an employer's principal activity.Middle managers and junior account executives were the job functions quoted by 28% and 16% of the respondents, respectively. A further 11% are senior managers and 9% are chief executives/directors/ partners.

Women's rolesJust over 15% of the women surveyed work in administration, compared to 3% of men. While 30% of middle managers are male compared to 19% of women. There has been an increase in the number of women occupying senior posts with 4% of the women surveyed working as a director, chief executive or partner. This compares to 11% of the male respondents. Last year only 2% of women surveyed were in top posts.It comes as no surprise to find that 47% of the respondents work in London or the South East. Although this is 7% lower than last year.Most respondents work in small offices. 30% work in an office with under 24 staff. 15% work in an office with 25-49 staff and a further 15% work in an office with 50-99 staff. All of the over 55-year-olds who completed the survey worked in an office with less than 50 staff.

Employee loyaltyOne in ten of the staff surveyed has worked in insurance for more than 30 years. And a further 17% have worked in the business for 20-30 years.Almost 60% of the respondents have worked in insurance for more than ten years. A small number of late life converts are joining the industry, with one respondent in the 56-65year-old group and having less than a year's experience in insurance.A startling 44% of respondents do not have post-school qualifications.But 23% have a degree and 31% a specific insurance industry qualification.There is no age differentiation for those without post-school qualifications, but 34% of the under 25s who replied to the survey hold a university degree.This figure diminishes gradually across the age ranges to a point where just 9% of 46-55 year olds have a degree.Specific insurance qualifications are gradually accumulated. One in five of the under 25s has specific insurance qualifications, compared to 30% of the 26-35 year-olds, 33% of the 36-45 year-olds and 42% of the 46-55 year-olds.While 27% of respondents are not members of an industry organisation, 44% belong to the CII. This seems to have caught on with the youth, with 51% of under 25s claiming membership of the CII.Survey responses were received from an extensive spectrum of companies, ranging from blue-chip insurers to the high street broker. These include Zurich, Marsh, Norwich Union, Aon, Fortis, DAS Legal Expenses and Hill House Hammond.

LunchPass the Rennies - 12% of us take ten minutes or less for lunch. While one in four take less than 20 minutes break. At the other end of the scale, hour-plus lunches are usual for 4% of our respondents.

Working hoursMore than half of us are working eight hours or more per day, with 6% working more than 50 hours per week. It seems that the insurance industry has a reasonably good life-work balance, with relatively few people compared, say to investment banking, working excessive hours.

How we compiled the dataFollowing on from the exceptional response to the online Insurance Times Salary Survey 2002, this year's survey was again conducted entirely online. Exposure was maximised through associations with www.workthing.com, www.fish4.co.uk and Lime Street Recruitment.The survey was designed to be quick and easy to complete. Moreover, thousands of pounds worth of prizes, including minidisc and DVD players, televisions and video camcorders, were offered as an incentive to complete the survey.The survey was limited to respondents in full-time employment, working within the UK. In an attempt to represent the whole insurance industry, the survey was open to respondents from a range of disciplines across the insurance industry - from insurance companies and brokers/intermediaries to loss adjusters and information technology suppliers.The response options to a number of questions, including salary and bonus specific questions, were intended to be minimally invasive. To this end, predefined response ranges were provided.Responses were were treated in the strictest of confidence. And data was collated by NFO WorldGroup.