Last time, I mentioned select results from Quirk’s Marketing Research Review’s
Salary Survey. As discussed, while it is a flawed survey, it still has
lots of interesting information worth considering. One such data point is
the amount of hours market researchers are working. When supplier and
corporate researchers were asked “are you working more or fewer hours now
compared to in the past,” about 1/3 said they are “working more
hours” in 2011, which is about the same as reported in 2010. And
just over half said that they were working “about the same hours” in
2011, which is also the same as the previous year. Interestingly,
the amount of hours (and weekends) worked is one of the primary complaints I
hear from anyone exploring greener pastures, so the potential for it to become
an issue is certainly reasonable from my perspective. In case you were
curious, supplier and corporate researcher results are nearly
identical, so both groups are working the same or more hours year over
year. The baseline hours worked for one group could be higher than the
other of course, but that is not addressed in the survey. One can only
hope it’s not the same 1/3 that keeps working more and more hours year after
year. Hopefully that does not describe you, but if it does, you might
want to consider your options.
Nonetheless, according to the same survey almost 3/4 of researchers are somewhat satisfied, satisfied or very satisfied with their current employment. In a field
where the work is hard and the hours are long, that’s very nice to see.
As mentioned last time, the average market researcher with 11-15 years of
experience is making around six figures, and while money can’t buy happiness,
perhaps it can buy employee satisfaction. There are lots of interesting
questions and data points within the survey around satisfaction, compensation,
hours worked and likelihood to look for a new job, but they are unfortunately
not combined in any meaningful way within the reporting. Even so, I think
we’d all agree it’s a good bet that researchers who are paid comparatively well
and work less hours are more likely to be satisfied and less likely to look for
new jobs. If that describes you, congratulations and keep doing what
you’re doing because it’s working.
But that’s the truly interesting thing, because I talk to lots of researchers who
fit the above criteria of satisfied and well paid, but are looking for greener
pastures anyway. Conversely, I talk to lots of researchers who are
seemingly dissatisfied and underpaid, but want to keep things just as they
are. As discussed last time, there are many different elements that
impact a person’s working life and career, and some have a much stronger if not
absolute affect on the decision making process than others. It’s
often difficult to do, but the most important thing is to establish an
objective view of your current situation and of the job market for someone
with your assets, because that always leads to better assessments and
decision making in the short and long-term.
It’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan of this (even though it’s flawed) and
other salary surveys, because at the end of the day, the sole purpose of
any salary survey is to aid the reader in their decision making
process. A properly executed survey provides you with a
tool to compare yourself objectively with colleagues and peers, which can
be invaluable.
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