Shock - Two Thirds of Researchers Not Overworked or Underpaid

Results are in from MRWho's June poll of over 200 UK research professionals, and the shock news is that only thirty per cent think that MR is 'Not Very Well Paid'. We had certainly feared worse, and the 1% who think it is 'Very Badly Paid' are a drop in the ocean. Hours worked are also less off-putting than they might have been, with a mean of only 43 a week. Nevertheless, many researchers dream of dropping out and 'doing some good for society'.

To be fair, the level of respondents was very senior, as we'd expected given MRWho's reader profile. Many years in the industry (most respondents are at SRE level and above and 35% are at AD, Director level or above) have not changed their views of pay very much - figures for perceptions when they came into MR, and perceptions now, are very similar.

Dissatisfaction with pay levels rises to 50% among REs and JREs and is lowest among the self-employed, two of whom are even managing to make £100k+ a year. No respondent apart from the self-employed feels that MR is 'Very Well Paid'.

The average researcher in the survey works 43 hours a week, with a broad range however - 7% work 55 hours plus and a quarter work less than 40 hours, not including part-timers. The mean rises to 46 hours among ADs and above, and falls to only 40 hours among JREs / REs. 28 respondents earn in excess of £60k a year and these work a mean 49 hours a week [which sounds pretty good to me on both counts - what am I doing wrong? - Ed. No, Don't all answer that].

42% of respondents work regularly at the weekend and nearly two thirds sometimes work at home - around a third of these have remote access to their PC and many have laptops but about 40% just use the Internet to transfer files backwards and forwards.

Group moderation takes up the evenings of a small number - one in six spends one or more evenings a month moderating and only 3% pass 5 or more evenings a month in this fashion.

The sample includes 30 respondents who are aged 25-34 but at AD level or above, indicating that there is potential for a rapid rise through the ranks in MR.

Respondents were also asked about their ideal job, or what they'd like to be doing if they were not in MR. There is a notable trend from one end of the age / seniority spectrum to the other...

Among IT and DP professionals, most of whom were fairly junior and unhappy with their salary, and among JREs and REs, there is often an earnest desire to help society 'rather than finding out what the C2DEs consider to be the nicest colour of toothpaste' - or to do something downbeat but creative. By the time we reach SREs and Project Managers, the urge can be simply to do 'anything else' - a staggering 40% of SREs could think of nothing in particular but in few cases was this the result of being supremely comfortable at present - it's more likely to mean they don't have time to even think. Others chose Monkey Trainer, Rock Star or TV Commentator. [Interestingly, one of the client side Research Managers wants to be 'a gardener for a rock star', so if it comes off for the above Project Manager we'll put the two of you in touch and the role reversal should be interesting].

75% of client side Research Managers are happy with their salaries and there is less feeling of becoming burnt out - many of them have (even) more relaxed careers in mind, however, such as windsurfing instructor or writing crime novels. By the time we reach ADs, creative and professional careers are the vogue - GP, vet or writer, and Directors and above mainly reinforce the trend - extraordinarily, some dream of being lawyers, and others of running their own business. Some want to retire and a couple were probably mentally on the golf course - their preferred choice of occupation - even as they clicked and typed their answers.

Self-employed researchers give the impression of having put their quality of life first, and of wanting in some cases to ease off even further - odd, as it's not my memory of self-employment in MR. 'Club Med Manager' and 'University Librarian' said two of them. One said 'Professional Escort, but don't tell the wife'. So that's what the Code of Conduct is really all about.

Questionnaires were completed online between late May and 7th June 2003 by readers of MrWeb's free monthly 'People and Skills in MR' supplement, MRWho [ email nick@mrweb.com for details ]. The average completion time blooming well was five minutes so the one very senior person who maligned me can stop right now. Only three people spontaneously mentioned that my questionnaire design was awful, which I regard as spectacularly good for a survey of mostly senior and undoubtedly opinionated researchers. One said 'You're not a quant person, are you?' No, I'm not, but I hope you found the results interesting anyway, Sir and I trust you will not make any life-changing decisions on the basis of the precise percentages given.

Results (including comments on Aus and American responses) will be published in more detail in the forthcoming MRWho, which was due ages ago and will probably not be published for a few days yet. Sorry if that sounds vague but we think it's an interesting survey and we don't want to rush it. Plus, I seem already to be one of only 3 people out of 202 in the UK who completed the survey who is working more than 70 hours a week, so the rest of you can jolly well wait.

Nick Thomas

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.