We have had a fabulous response to the survey we sent out recently from all parts of the country, but chiefly from our friends in the North (28%), the Midlands (15%) and a staggering (nearly 41%) response from within the M25. Well done you lot. In case anyone is interested, there seems to be very little competition in Wales or Ireland (about 3%), if you are thinking about relocating.

What is your current salary?

Regarding salary, most (17%) are earning between £25-30K, and following that 13% of you are doing a little better (£30-35K). It gets a little thinner the higher up we go, as you would expect with 6% in the next bracket (£35-40K), 7% on £40-45K and the same amount (just over 3%) at the £45-50K and £50-60K levels. No one is on more than £60,000 a year which means we are either underpaid or paranoid that the tax man may be reading.

Worryingly, at the other end of the scale, around 10-11% of you are struggling by on £20-25, £15-20 and £10-15K a year, while a huge 15% (the second highest response) have to live on £0-10K annually. That’s a sad statement on our current economy.

Current job level?

Starting at the top we have a total of 5% describing themselves as Owners/Executives and Senior Management, just over 20% middle management and a whopping 52.3% at an intermediate level. With 14% as Junior level and a little over 8% on internships, considering the 15% of responders on less than £10K, something doesn’t add up. Maybe Junior designers need to be paid more?

What is your age?

An appalling question for some, but we don’t judge. Maybe predictably, 46% are 25-34 and 22% ticked 35-44 to make our most popular age groups. To our one respondent who ticked the over 75 box, congratulations sir. Speaking of which, the third largest age category turned out to be 18-24 year olds at nearly 13.5%. Maybe there is hope for the industry after all.

Job satisfaction

It is encouraging to note that over 33% of you feel appreciated more than average and 26% average with similar numbers for how rewarding their current role is. 15% and 17% feel unappreciated and utterly unappreciated respectively, with 18.3% and 19.4% scoring low and very low in the rewarding role category. That is quite bleak. Only roughly 8% of you feel blissfully happy and rewarded.

Tragically, 33% feel there is little to no progression through management levels in their current situation, and 22% say it’s a little but not much better where they are. Just over 26% claim satisfactory progression, 11% more than satisfactory and only about 8% (the same 8% who are blissfully happy?) say there is fantastic progression through to management.

15% of you are thoroughly stressed out by deadlines, 10% not quite so much, but it’s still tough, and 24% say the stress is average. 20.4% aren’t too bothered and happily, 30% seem to have no idea what a deadline is, or at least aren’t at all bothered by them.

What are the key motivators when changing jobs?

Not surprisingly, 85% cited a higher salary would be the key to luring them away, and 62% also want a better working environment. Let us hope a boss or two reads this blog. Perversely, 42.86% would move for more responsibility and 42.86% also want flexible working hours. Is one conducive to the other? It would be a brave company who took the time to find out. 28.5% would prefer a broader role and 21% think they would be happier in a larger company. Sadly, only 4% wish for a smaller company so there’s little opportunity for switching around at the moment. Fewer than 19% could be enticed with a better pension plan while the 13% who insist on a company car are clearly petrol heads.

What is your employment status?

While most of you (43%) are employed full-time with all the benefits, nearly half as many (25%) are on contract for more than 31 hours per week. Only about 2% are on part time contract (less than 30 hours per week), and 10% total are on mean spirited zero hour contracts with about half doing more than 31 hours per week. 11% of you are currently looking for work (keep at it, you will get there) and no one admitted to not bothering to look.

From this limited survey, what can we tell? Well, at a glance it appears that far too many of you are underpaid and underwhelmed in your current position, but there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. There are a good number of younglings choosing careers as designers and enough people seem satisfied to give hope to the rest of you. Remember, the current economic climate will start to get better, and hopefully that will bring rewards to all of us.