We recently conducted a salary survey of the Northern Creative and Marketing Sectors, and the results throw up some interesting insights. The increase in minimum wage has pushed up entry level salaries but many organisations haven’t been able to maintain the same differential between junior and experienced employees.
So, are we creating a middle management salary squeeze?
Our survey shows that Marketing Assistant salaries now often start between £25-27k, with Marketing Executives around £28-36k, yet Marketing Managers are often being asked to manage budgets and staff for £40-45k.
Are there real problems with Marketing Manager salaries?
Our survey found Marketing Manager salaries ranged from £30-60k, with a median salary of £40k.
Marketing Manager can be one of the most misleading titles in marketing though. A Marketing Manager could be the sole marketer in a £12m business, or the manager of a small team within a much larger marketing department. They could be managing vastly different budgets.
In a conversation with a hiring manager recently, they explained they were having problems with a recently promoted member of the team. What was meant to help retain them was actually not helping at all as the £3k payrise wasn’t deemed worth the extra work involved.
Senior leaders face a difficult balancing act. Entry-level salaries have risen significantly in recent years, but many organisations haven’t been able to increase management salaries at the same pace. How can they best make sure the rest of the salary structure keeps pace? It becomes much harder to retain ambitious people if management roles don’t offer meaningful progression, people start questioning whether the next step up is actually worth it.
If you’d like to receive our latest salary survey just email me at julie@creativeresource.co.uk, or call 07786 381609.