2016 Design Salary Survey

Other Compensation

Salary is not static, nor is it the only important part of one’s compensation. Respondents were asked to report the change in their salary over the last three years: 83% reported some positive change, 49% reported a gain of at least $20K, and 9% reported a gain of at least $60K. As a percentage of salary (three years ago), the median gain was 22%. Interestingly, the same variables used to estimate salary in the regression model presented earlier did not seem to have much predictive power for either the actual or percentage salary change; the best models we found left more than 90% of the variation in salary growth unexplained.

Bonuses were received in the previous 12 months by about half of the sample, with 19% receiving a bonus under $5K, 18% from $5K to $10K, and 12% more than $10K. Like salary change, the bonus data were not amenable to prediction using the rest of the survey data, aside from the trivial result that the bigger bonuses tended to be received by those with the highest salaries.

Among non-cash parts of compensation, most respondents reported that they receive health insurance (81%) and contributions to a retirement plan (64%). Smaller cohorts received stock options (30%), profit sharing (16%), and the opportunity for a sabbatical (10%). Less than three weeks of vacation were available to 24% of the sample, exactly three weeks to 38%, three or four to 26%, and the remaining 12% had six weeks or more. Of these four groups, the one with the highest ...