2010 Insurance IT Salary Survey
The market for IT talent in the insurance industry is "energetic," says Margaret Resce Milkint, managing partner of The Jacobson Group, a Chicago-based financial services executive recruiting firm. "For insurance and healthcare, there's a huge transformation going on," she says. "It's an exciting time for someone who can really help companies to integrate, execute and become a leader for the future."
But candidates have to be prepared to deliver, according to Milkint. "Top talent has a future and will command top dollar," she observes. "But mediocre talent? There's no place in this market for it."
For both staff and management positions in insurance technology, there was no measurable difference in base salary between men and women, according to InformationWeek Analytics' annual IT salary survey, which queried more than 1,100 insurance IT professionals. (By contrast, the study shows that the gender salary gap in banking and securities is 20 percent for IT staff and 11 percent for IT management in favor of men.) But male IT managers in insurance earned higher bonuses, receiving total median compensation of $129,000, compared with $120,000 for their female counterparts.
Insurance IT workers were relatively fortunate to receive an increase in base salary for 2010, however modest -- a 1 percent median increase for staff and a 1.6 percent raise for management, compared to zero growth for banking and securities IT salaries, according to the InformationWeek Analytics research. Nonetheless, last year bonuses were extremely scarce for insurers and their service providers.
"Folks were disappointed because we had two to three good years in a row, but we're pretty transparent and so people could see that revenues were down," notes Mark Myerscough, IT director for Wilber and Associates, a law firm specializing in collections for the insurance industry. "People ... understand that -- and they really didn't have any other options in this economy."
This year, however, 71 percent of insurance IT staff and 84 percent of IT management expect to receive bonuses, which is slightly higher than expectations among banking/securities IT professionals, the study reveals.
Nearly three out of four (73 percent) insurance IT managers reported being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their total compensation, compared to just 60 percent of managers in banking/securities. For IT staffers, the satisfaction levels were closer -- 62 percent satisfaction for insurance versus 57 percent for banking/securities.
Insurance IT workers are also happier with their overall situations, with 72 percent of managers and 63 percent of staff "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with all aspects of their jobs. In banking/securities, only 63 percent of managers and 59 percent of staff reported similar satisfaction levels.
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