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Infographic | Beyond Data

2023 pay trends across industries

December 2022

Explore what our general industry salary survey data tells us about 2023.
Compensation Strategy & Design
Beyond Data
Infographic of 2023 pay trends across industries

Employee attraction and retention plague organizations around the globe

Organizations are struggling to fill key roles at every level

Voluntary attrition rate
Brazil 9%
Taiwan 11%
United Arab Emirates 7%
United Kingdom 14%
United States 12%


Key roles for which employers will be recruiting in the next 12 months

Information Technology
United States 67%
Brazil 58%
United Kingdom 56%
United Arab Emirates 50%
Taiwan 46%

Engineering
United States 50%
Brazil 48%
United Arab Emirates 47%
United Kingdom 44%
Taiwan 44%

Sales
Taiwan 57%
United Arab Emirates 52%
Brazil 51%
United Kingdom 43%
United States 31%


2022 saw the highest salary budget increases in nearly 20 years

Given the fundamental role salary plays in an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent, employers plan to carry this adjustment through to 2023 – yet remain cautious about how and when they allocate the overall budget.

2022 Overall Actual Salary Increases (Median) 2023 Overall Forecasted Salary Increases (Median)
Brazil 8% 7%
Taiwan 4% 4%
United Arab Emirates 4% 4%
United Kingdom 3% 4%
United States 4% 4%


Additionally, organizations leveraged bonus payouts in 2022 and, again, are on track to the same in 2023

16%: Average 2022 projected variable payout for middle managers and professionals.

Brazil 18%
Taiwan 17%
United Arab Emirates 15%
United Kingdom 15%
United States 15%

Organizations in every industry around the world have taken or are considering taking the same three actions

Compensation review of specific employee populations 51%
Targeted increases for specific employee populations 45%
One-off cash payments (e.g., retention bonus, lump-sum payment or allowance) 44%

Top 3 highest-paid functions across all industries at Professional Level 3 (P3)

Brazil China United Kingdom United States
Geosciences Data Science and Business Intelligence Legal IT Development
Technical Sales Support Legal IT Development Product Development
Research IT Development Audit and Financial/Business Controls Legal

Median pay mix for Manager level 3 (M3) in the Data Scientist function

Brazil China United Kingdom United States
Base (%) 70% 71% 76% 75%
Bonus (%) 18% 17% 13% 14%
LTI (%) 12% 12% 11% 11%

There are a handful of roles that will receive the highest pay premiums across regions

Role Pay premium (Median, in % of base salary)
APAC AI/machine learning frameworks 15%
EMEA AI/machine learning frameworks 20%
LATAM Cryptography, distributed ledger development, smart contract programming 15%
NA Cryptography, distributed ledger development, smart contract programming 15%

10% increase in the number of unique organizations participating in WTW’s 2022 general industry surveys, and a 10% overall increase in data submissions

Trends that will drive 2023 rewards decisions

  1. Economic volatility and uncertainty could lead to lower investment levels and economic growth, which will force organizations to review their workforces and be more cautious about increase salaries (among many other things).
  2. Organizations will look beyond pay and take a holistic view of total rewards to create employee experiences that attract and retain the talent needed to drive business objectives.
  3. To effectively compete against industry peers, compensation and HR professionals will seek a more sophisticated understanding and application of data in their strategic total rewards practices and policies.

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