Is Rightsizing the Right Answer?

The local television station calls this the Decade of Downsizing. And then there’s the politically correct term of rightsizing. But whatever term you use to describe the current trend, test professionals have seemed to take it in stride—until this year.

Since EE began conducting salary surveys in 1993, median incomes from year to year have been anything but predictable. In 1994, the overall median salary had decreased about 9% from that recorded in 1993. Last year, the outlook was brighter with an increase of almost 14%.

For 1996, the trend has reversed again, but only slightly. This year’s overall median salary is down from last year to $52,500, or roughly a 2.5% decrease. What’s more significant than the small decrease is the general dissatisfaction you are expressing about what it takes to earn this money.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To better understand what this year’s salary survey means, let’s explain how we gathered this information. In January, we mailed 1,500 questionnaires to test professionals selected at random from EE’s subscriber list. No incentives were offered to encourage participants to respond to the survey. A total of 19% of the questionnaires were completed and returned, and here is what you told us.

Geographically, the median salary is a proverbial seesaw (Figure 1). In the Northeast, the median salary is down a little more than 6% from 1995. The Southeast is up by 7%. The Central region is down by 7%; the Mountain region up by 8% and the Pacific down by 4%. The least number of survey responses came from the Mountain region, which likely is a factor in the change from 1995.

Salary by geographic region is fine, but let’s get closer to you—salary based on what you do. The largest group responding to the survey lists design/development engineering as their primary job function, followed by manufacturing/production engineering, QC/QA/reliability/product assurance and production test. To see how the median salaries for these categories compare to those of 1995, look at Table 1, see below.

Job Function

1995 Median Salary

1996 Median Salary

Percent of Change

Design/Development Engineering

60,700

55,000

-9.4%

Field Service

51,000

50,000

-2%

Incoming Inspection/Test

42,000

55,000

31%

Manufacturing/Production Engineering

57,000

50,000

-12%

Production Test

47,000

45,000

-4%

QC/QA/Reliability/Product Assurance

54,000

51,000

-5.5%

R&D/Scientific

59,000

55,000

-6.8%

To give you another comparison tool, we changed our reporting methodology this year to include salary information in percentile. Percentile is a measure of relative standing. It allows you to see how your salary compares with that of your peers in the industry. We are introducing percentile graphs of salary based on education, job function and number of years in the industry. Figure 2 shows salary by job function.

And how does experience impact your salary? Surprisingly, those of you in the industry less than three years have a median salary of $46,000 while those of you with three to five years of experience average $39,500. Then there is the steady increase of $43,500 in median salary for six to nine years of experience, $49,000 for 10 to 14 years and $60,000 for 15 to 19 years.

For those of you with 20 to 24 years in the industry, the median salary drops to $52,750, and from 25 to 29 years it sags to $51,050. But don’t despair; those who stick it out for 30 or more years earn $62,250. Figure 3 presents the numbers in percentile or how your salary fares with your peers compared to years of experience.

When it comes to education, the largest number of you say your highest level of education is a B.S.E.E. degree and your median salary is $52,000, up slightly from 1995. The next largest group has associates degrees, followed by other B.S. degrees and post-graduate study (Table 2, see below). For a different perspective, a graph of salary by level of education for the 10th to the 90th percentile is shown in Figure 4.

Level of Education

Median Salary

High School

41,000

Some College

40,000

Associates Degree

46,225

B.S.E.E. Degree

52,000

B.S.C.S. Degree

97,750

Other B.S. Degrees

58,500

B.A. Degree

55,000

Post-Graduate Studies

60,000

M.S.E.E. Degree

60,000

M.S. Engineering Management

60,000

M.S.E.E./C.S. Degrees

57,500

Other Masters Degrees

45,500

M.B.A. Degree

62,500

Ph.D. Degree

70,000

Continuing your education seems more important this year, since about 47% of you are back in the classroom, up significantly from 28% a year ago. For those of you continuing your education, 73% say it’s for professional knowledge; the smallest group, or 29%, indicate you are motivated by advancement or a raise.

About 83% report that you attend seminars or training programs. This is down by seven points from 1995. By the way, 48% are occasional participants at seminars or training programs, which translates into about two professional/educational experiences per year.

Perhaps the reason for the “occasional participation” is a reflection of the time allowed you to attend seminars and programs. At least 44% say your employer does not grant time off for seminars or training programs.

So how do all these statistics figure into your overall job satisfaction? Well, about 43% of you are satisfied with your current job, while about 25% of you are very satisfied and 24% are only somewhat satisfied. Only 7% are truly unhappy with your job.

As for career satisfaction, again nearly half of you, or about 48%, are happy. And once more, about one-quarter of you are very satisfied with your career choice and another one-fifth are only somewhat pleased with your profession.

Downsizing

So maybe here—downsizing—is where that strong vein of discontent originates. Never before in the history of EE’s salary survey have we received so many critical comments—some fairly pleasant but others quite pointed. And with the exception of a few, the comments addressed the effects of downsizing.

These responses are not too surprising. More than 55% of you say that your company has been impacted by downsizing. Of this group, 75% say this is affecting you personally, first by having fewer people in your department to handle the same or increased workloads, followed closely by having to accept additional responsibilities yourself.

This translates into overtime, but not quite as much as in 1995. About 75% of you are working more than your normal hours, down about seven percentage points from last year. But only 21% are paid for these hours; last year, 29% were paid.

Then factor in our newest category on the salary survey: moonlighting. About 21% of you are working a second job, earning a median salary of $5,000. Al least your employers are not in the dark about your after-hours activities, since you report that about two-thirds of them know you augment your incomes.

What’s Ahead

So what we have here is the story of professionals basically happy with your careers and jobs but working long hours to compensate for company downsizing and salaries you don’t consider adequate. Has downsizing gone too far?

Only time will tell. Hopefully, next year’s salary survey will shed some light on whether the dissatisfaction about salaries and downsizing, or rightsizing, voiced this year is the predominant philosophy of today’s test professional or just brief disillusionment.

Copyright 2004 Nelson Publishing Inc.

April 1996

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