Six of the top 10 global IT payers were in Europe. Denmark ranked behind Switzerland on the leader board, followed by Belgium, the UK, and Ireland. The US came in at number six in the worldwide pay stakes.
The Mercer 2007 Pay around the World survey analyzed the total annual cash compensation and pay data for IT staff at 6,545 companies in 35 countries and was designed to help multinationals benchmark their IT salaries and budgets.
Swiss IT managers earned an average $151,000 a year, while their UK and Irish counterparts pulled in $126,000 and $116,000. In the US the average IT manager salary was $115,000.
At the bottom end of the league table, managers in Vietnam earned only $16.5,000. Bulgaria and the Philippines were also revealed as poor payers. Indian managers were the fourth lowest earners with an annual salary of $27,000.
Mercer IT workforce specialist David Van De Voort said the vast pay discrepancies come as a result of European and North American companies outsourcing to locations with cheap talent. The jobs that remain in western Europe and the US may be fewer in number but are more demanding and complex roles like vendor relationship manager, internal consultant and IT business partner, he said.
While many of European and US firms had incremental pay rises with each step up the career ladder, the survey exposed large pay gaps between junior and senior staff in India, Brazil, Chile, and Vietnam.
David Conroy, a principal in Mercer’s London office, said: This reflects a lack of hierarchy in the west. In these countries, companies are generally more creative in attracting staff. There is more focus on variable factors such as bonus schemes, while in lower-paying countries, the emphasis remains on cash compensation.
