IT Salaries in Higher Education, 2012

Transcription

1 IT Salaries in Higher Education, 2012 Research Bulletin February 15, 2013 Susan Grajek, EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research Key Findings and Recommendations More complex institutions pay higher salaries than less complex institutions for management positions but not for professional positions. The difference is most pronounced between doctoral and other types of institutions. IT salaries in higher education increased overall by 2% from 2011 to This did not keep pace with the rate of inflation. Among the IT leadership team, IT support directors salaries increased by the largest percentage, although they are still lower than other IT leaders salaries. Among IT professionals, support staff, academic computing, and administrative computing staff had greater percentage increases than web, infrastructure/operations, and security professionals. The CIO position is unique, and that is reflected in the CUPA-HR salary data. The income gap between higher-paid and lower-paid positions is increasing. CIOs income increases were 1.4 times larger than the lowest-paid leader (IT support directors), and the dollar increases of IT department leaders (administrative systems, infrastructure/operations, and support) were more than double the increases of their lowest-paid staff. Since 2008, salaries for non-cio IT leaders grew less than salaries for either the CIO or IT professionals. However, patterns vary by Carnegie class. In bachelor s colleges, non- CIO IT leader jobs showed the fastest growth of all IT jobs. IT professionals salaries grew the fastest in associate s colleges. IT leaders should pay attention to patterns in their staff salary increases and manage those patterns carefully. They should question whether dollar increases are equitable across all ranges of incomes. IT leaders should work closely with their HR departments to monitor and manage salaries on an ongoing basis. Each area has special expertise to contribute to the task of compensation management. IT staff should understand the market value of their role, to aid them with career planning and salary expectations. Compensation differs for roles of different responsibilities and varies for similar roles in different types of institutions EDUCAUSE and Susan Grajek. CC by-nc-nd. 1

2 Introduction IT salaries matter. They account for 39% of the IT budget. 1 They compensate IT staff, whose performance makes the difference between the kind of IT services and systems that impede institutional performance and the kind that lay the groundwork for an efficiently run institution that provides the highest-quality education and research. This report uses summary data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) 2008, 2011, and 2012 salary surveys of higher education administrators and professionals to examine salaries for 50 IT positions in higher education and derive insights into salary levels, salary differences across positions and institutional types, and patterns of change in IT salaries. 2 The IT Organization IT is organized differently at each institution. Generally, however, IT staff tend to be affiliated with one of a few major areas: academic computing, infrastructure and operations, information systems, support services, and the CIO s office (IT administration). These major areas comprise a smaller or larger proportion of the central IT staff, depending on institutional type (see Figure 1). The nature of IT positions and salaries vary considerably within and across the areas. Figure 1. Distribution of IT Staff 2

3 IT Salaries Some positions have very broad salary ranges, and others have much narrower ranges. Broad ranges often reflect fundamental differences in job responsibilities from institution to institution. ECAR classified jobs as having a broad range if the maximum salary across all institutions in the same basic Carnegie Classification doctoral, master s, bachelor s, or associate s was more than four times the minimum salary. Jobs were classified as having a narrow range if the maximum salary in the same Carnegie group was less than 2.5 times the minimum salary. Using those definitions, only one role the CIO had a broad range across all Carnegie groups. Another, director of telecom and networking, had a broad range in master s and doctoral institutions. None of the other 48 positions had a broad salary range in more than one Carnegie group. Thirteen of the fifty positions met our criterion for a narrow salary range, and all but one was an IT professional position. The distance education faculty support manager had a narrow salary range in all Carnegie groups. Two other positions had a narrow range in all the Carnegie groups in which they were found: director of enterprise data center (three of four), and IT technical writer (two of four). Positions with narrow ranges in three of four Carnegie groups were: Entry-level online instructional designer Systems programmer, supervisor Computer operator, entry level Programmer analyst, supervisor Senior programmer analyst Those with narrow ranges in two of four Carnegie groups were: Director of information management Senior systems programmer Computer operations supervisor Distance education network operations manager Senior online instructional designer 3

4 Institutional type matters. More complex institutions pay higher salaries for the same job title for management positions but not for professional positions. The difference is most pronounced between doctoral and other types of institutions. See Figure 2. Figure 2. IT Salaries by Position Level and Carnegie Class 4

5 For a detailed look, Figure 3 depicts IT salary ranges and medians for all 50 positions by major Carnegie group, organized in order of job family (CIO s office, academic computing, administrative systems, infrastructure/operations, IT security, IT support, web, and other). Figure 3. IT Salary Ranges and Medians (in thousands of dollars) 5

6 Changes between 2011 and 2012 Percentage increases. IT salaries in higher education increased overall by 2%. CUPA-HR reports overall (for all positions, including IT) this increase was higher in private institutions (2.5% for management and 2.2% for professionals) than in public institutions (1.5% for management and 1.4% for professionals). 3 This did not keep pace with the rate of inflation: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) in 2011 was 3.2% higher than in 2010, roughly the same period on which these salary comparisons are based. 4 Table 1 shows differences in both Carnegie group and type of position. Table 1. Median Salary Increases by Carnegie Class Carnegie Class IT Management IT Professionals Doctoral 2.4% 2.0% Master s 2.0% 2.0% Bachelor s 2.0% 2.0% Associate s 1.7% 1.8% Overall 2.0% 2.0% A handful of jobs changed by 3% or 3.1%: Systems programmer supervisor and distance education faculty support manager in master s universities Senior systems programmer in bachelor s colleges Director of academic computing and system administrator in associate s colleges A handful of jobs showed no change: Associate director of academic computing in doctoral universities Distance education network operations manager in master s universities Programmer analyst supervisor in bachelor s colleges Senior systems programmer and administrator in associate s colleges Other positions saw increases that were appreciably higher or lower than the median increase for their Carnegie group. Table 2 lists all jobs and highlights (in green and red) those positions whose median salary increases were at least.5 percentage points higher or lower than the median increase among all IT positions for each Carnegie group. 6

7 Table 2. Jobs with Greater or Slower Salary Growth, Percentage Point Differences Percentage Point Differences from Median Carnegie Group Salary Increase AA BA MA DR Median Salary Increases 1.7% 2.0% 2.0% 2.4% Management Roles Chief Information Officer 0.2% 0.0% 0.2% 0.1% Chief IT Officer, Medical School 0.4% Deputy Chief Information Officer -0.9% 0.1% 0.2% 0.0% Academic Computing Dir., Academic Computing 1.3% 0.5% 0.5% 0.2% Assoc. Dir., Academic Computing -1.7% 0.0% 0.5% 0.4% Dir., Instructional Technology 0.3% 0.0% 0.0% -0.6% Information Systems Dir., Admin Computing 0.8% 0.0% 0.3% 0.1% Assoc. Dir., Admin Computing 0.3% 0.7% 0.5% -2.4% Infrastructure/Operations Dir., Telecom/Networking -0.4% 0.0% 0.0% -0.4% Dir., Enterprise Info Systems -0.8% 0.0% 0.5% 0.2% Dir., Enterprise Data Center -0.4% 0.5% 0.5% Principal Database Administrator -0.4% 0.0% 0.0% -0.3% Principal Systems Analyst 1.1% 0.5% 0.0% 0.0% Support Services Dir., User Services 0.3% 0.5% 0.3% 0.1% Other Dir., IT Security -0.7% 0.5% 0.0% 0.1% Dir., Research Computing -1.4% Dir., Info. Mgmt. 0.3% -1.5% 0.5% 0.2% Professional Roles Academic Computing Electronic Resources Librarian 1.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% Media Librarian 1.0% 0.0% -1.7% Instructional Technology Specialist 0.3% 0.4% 0.0% -0.6% Multimedia Specialist/Technician -0.2% 0.0% -0.3% -0.1% Distance Ed Faculty Support Manager -1.7% -2.0% 1.0% 0.0% Online Instruct. Designer, Entry Level 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% -0.6% Online Instruct. Designer, Senior Level 0.8% 0.0% 0.0% -0.4% 7

8 AA BA MA DR Information Systems Programmer Analyst -0.2% 0.2% 0.1% -0.6% Programmer Analyst, Senior -0.6% 0.0% 0.0% -0.7% Programmer Analyst, Supervisor 0.6% -2.0% 0.0% -1.1% Systems Programmer -1.0% 0.0% 0.5% -0.1% Systems Programmer, Senior -1.7% 1.0% -0.2% -0.2% Systems Programmer, Supervisor -0.2% 0.0% 1.1% 0.1% Database Administrator -0.3% 0.0% 0.0% -0.4% Data Administrator 1.1% 0.8% 0.1% 0.2% Infrastructure/Operations Telecommunications Manager -0.2% 0.0% 0.5% -0.4% Network Engineer 0.3% 0.0% 0.2% 0.1% Administrator -1.7% 0.0% 0.0% -0.2% Network Administrator -0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% System Administrator 1.3% 0.0% 0.4% -0.8% Distance Ed Network Ops Manager -1.7% -2.0% -2.0% -0.4% Computer Operator, Entry Level 0.6% -0.5% -0.2% -0.9% Computer Operator, Senior Level -0.3% -2.0% 0.0% -0.2% Computer Operations Supervisor 0.9% -1.0% 0.0% 0.1% Support Services IT Support Specialist 0.1% 0.0% 0.3% -0.7% Help Desk Specialist/Technician 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% -0.4% Help Desk Manager 0.9% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% IT Technical Writer 0.8% -0.5% Web Manager, Web Services/Webmaster 0.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% Web Graphics Designer 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% -0.1% Web Content Developer 0.8% 0.5% 0.0% -0.5% Other IT Security Analyst/Engineer 1.1% 0.0% -0.5% 0.2% IT Project Manager 0.8% 0.0% -0.8% -0.2% Key Salary increase 0.5 percentage points more than Carnegie group s median increase Salary increase 0.5 percentage points less than Carnegie group s median increase Number of Positions In master s institutions, 11 positions saw increases that were at least.5 percentage points higher than the median 2% salary increase, while just three positions saw increases that were at least.5 percentage points less than the median. In doctorals, no position increases were more than.5 percentage points greater than the median 2.4% salary increase, and 14 positions saw increases that were at least.5 percentages points less than the median. 8

9 Job families. Among the IT leadership team, IT support directors salaries increased by the largest percentage, although they are still lower than other IT leaders salaries. Among IT professionals, support staff, academic computing, and administrative computing staff had greater percentage increases than web, infrastructure/operations, and security professionals (see Figure 4). Figure 4. Median Salaries and Increases by Job Family 9

10 The Challenge of Percentages The impact of a percentage increase on salary differs according to the salary level. A 2% increase at a salary of $50,000 is $1,000, for example, but is $4,000 for a $200,000 salary. If all incumbents receive generally equivalent percentage increases, the dollar gap between lower and higher salaries grows. To maintain a consistent income gap, higher-paid positions would need to receive lower percentage increases. We took a closer look at the salary data for CIOs and for the lowest-salaried professionals (generally entry-level computer operators) to examine this effect on the income gaps at the extremes of the pay scale (see Table 3). The data not only illustrate the widening income gap that results from similar percentage increases but also show that this gap grew at different rates based on Carnegie class. At doctoral institutions, the salary gains (in actual dollars) of CIOs outpaced the gains of the lowest-paid staff by nearly a factor of 10 (9.8). Even in the more equitable case of associate s colleges, CIOs dollar raises were 2.3 times greater than those of the lowest-paid staff. Table 3. Median Raise (in Dollars) for CIO and Lowest-Paid Staff, by Carnegie Carnegie Class CIO Raise (Median) Lowest-Paid Staff Raise (Median) Growth in Income Gap Pace of CIO Change Compared to Lowest-Paid Professional Associate s $1,946 $845 $1, Bachelor s $2,076 $480 $1, Master s $2,583 $665 $1, Doctoral $4,878 $499 $4,

11 Looking within the IT organization, we found less dramatic but continued evidence of an increased income gap between higher-paid and lower-paid positions (see Figure 5). CIOs income increases were 1.4 times larger than the lowest-paid leader (IT support directors), and the dollar increases of IT department leaders (administrative systems, infrastructure/operations, and support) were more than double their lowest-paid staff. Figure 5. Growth in Salary Gap between IT Leaders and Staff As this pattern continues over time, the gap between IT leadership and line salaries grows significantly. We compared CUPA-HR salary data from 2008 with the 2012 salary data to see the cumulative effect of five years worth of salary increases. It is important to note that this comparison s validity is limited because we did not have a matched sample of institutions and so were unable to compare the five-year change in IT salaries within a consistent set of institutions. 11

12 With that limitation in mind, the data suggest that in general, CIO salaries grew more than the salaries of other IT staff. For IT leaders other than the CIO, salaries grew less than either CIO or IT professional salaries. However, patterns vary by Carnegie class (see Figure 6). In bachelor s colleges, non-cio IT leader jobs showed the fastest growth of all IT jobs. IT professionals salaries grew the fastest in associate s colleges. Figure 6. Percentage Change in Salaries Between 2008 and 2012 In practice, many factors are at work. Leadership wants to reward and retain high performers. Salary increases are a key component, and high performers tend to advance to more highly paid positions. Staff are generally aware of the salary pool, and that sets their expectations. The message that more highly paid staff will receive lower percentage increases in order to maintain salary increase equity is a difficult message to deliver and to receive. The CIO role has gained in responsibility, complexity, and perhaps accordingly salary. HR works closely with IT to carefully manage salaries. HR departments conduct market studies to calibrate institutional salaries and make structural adjustments in salaries for positions whose compensation is significantly different from market levels. Individuals salaries are capped when their income reaches the ceiling for their role. Positions are redefined and salaries are releveled when leadership and other key positions turn over. 12

13 The Special Case of the CIO The CIO position is unique, and that is reflected in the CUPA-HR salary data. CIOs salaries have a greater range than any other IT salaries: Almost $500,000 separated the lowest and highest CIO salaries in CIOs had the greatest dollar increases in their salaries of all other IT roles. Higher education CIOs are paid considerably less than CIOs in other industries. Recent U.S. salary surveys peg the average CIO salary at $165,000 $183,000, or 32 45% more than the median higher education CIO salary of $125, The biggest differential between the CIO salary and the lowest-paid IT professional is found in doctoral universities: an almost six-fold difference, compared to a three-fold difference at other institutional types (see Figure 7). This is arguably due to the greater complexity in the role at doctorals, where the CIO is often both the leader of the central IT organization and accountable for all IT at the university, regardless of whether it directly reports to the CIO. In addition, doctorals tend to have more senior (and highly paid) IT roles than other institutions, such as research computing director and medical school CIO. Figure 7. CIO Salaries Compared to Lowest Professional Salaries 13

14 Conclusion and Recommendations Higher education salaries did not keep pace with inflation last year, and IT salaries were no exception. Within IT, however, median increases for specific positions ranged from 0% to 3.1%. More-senior positions generally received both higher percent increases and more dollars. The CIO role is a special case all around. It varies significantly across institutions and has generally increased in complexity and impact, and CIO salaries are generally increasing faster than those of any other role. Based on the findings of this report, ECAR offers three primary recommendations: 1. IT leaders should pay attention to patterns in their staff salary increases and manage those patterns carefully. They should question whether dollar increases are equitable across all ranges of incomes. 2. IT leaders should work closely with the HR department to monitor and manage salaries on an ongoing basis. Each area has special expertise to contribute to the task of compensation management. 3. IT staff should understand the market value of their role, to aid them with career planning and salary expectations. Compensation differs for roles of different responsibilities and varies for similar roles in different types of institutions. Salaries do matter. As Alfred Hitchcock said, When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, It's in the script. If he says, But what's my motivation? I say, Your salary. People are any organization s greatest asset, and, even for live-to-work people, salaries are an important factor in job satisfaction. Acknowledgments I would like to thank the leadership of CUPA-HR for generously sharing these data and giving EDUCAUSE permission to analyze the data and produce this ECAR research bulletin. Andy Brantley, CUPA-HR President and CEO, and Ray Sizemore, Director of Research, responded swiftly and positively to our request. Sizemore provided extremely helpful comments to an earlier draft of the report, and research manager Maria Calcagno extracted a matched sample of 2011 and 2012 salary data to improve the quality of the research. About the Author Susan Grajek (sgrajek@educause.edu) is Vice President of Data, Research, and Analytics at EDUCAUSE. Citation for This Work Grajek, Susan. IT Salaries in Higher Education, Research Bulletin. Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, February 15, 2013, available from 14

15 Notes EDUCAUSE Core Data Service, 2. The data used in this report are from CUPA-HR s 2008, 2011, and 2012 salary surveys of higher education administrators and professionals. The Administrators in Higher Education Salary Survey collects salary data for 191 positions, including 17 IT positions, with primary assignments generally requiring management of the institution or of a customarily recognized division within it. The Professionals in Higher Education Salary Survey collects salary data for 275 functional professional positions, including 33 IT positions, with primary assignments and responsibilities generally requiring professional-level expertise and work in a specific functional area, such as academic or student services, facilities management, human resources, information technology, athletics, etc. Positions covered include those with supervisory duties that do not represent the majority of their time and effort. All positions require at least a baccalaureate degree or equivalent in the field and may require a terminal degree and/or professional licensure in the field. All positions in both surveys are FLSA exempt. For 2012, 1,240 institutions participated in the administrators survey and 1,084 in the professionals survey. They reported salary data on 878 CIOs, which was the IT position for which data was most frequently provided. The median number of institutions providing salary data for a given role was 244. Salary data was based on multiple staff when applicable; the median number of staff salaries reported per role was 417 (across all institutions), with some roles, such as programmer analyst and IT support specialist, having salary data from over 4,700 individuals. Data were not reported if it was available for fewer than five individuals in the entire sample (or, for subanalyses, one of the four Carnegie subgroups of doctoral, master s, bachelor s, and associate s). Questionnaires and position descriptions are available from CUPA-HR ( 3. See the CUPA-HR salary surveys of professionals and administrators in higher education, 4. Bureau of Labor Statistics Average Annual Index 2011, 5. Janco Associates 2012 Salary Survey ( estimates mean compensation for CIOs in large enterprises is now $182,210 and $165,820 in midsized enterprises. Computer World s 2012 Salary Survey ( estimates the CIO average salary at $183,