- 44 per cent of UK engineers are actively considering a change of job
- 78 per cent of UK engineers have received a pay increase in the past 12 months
- 51 per cent of respondents would consider taking a role overseas
- 54 per cent of UK engineers have received a bonus in the past months.
More than three quarters of UK engineers have seen their salaries increase over the past months. This is one of the key findings of The Engineer’s 2024 Salary Survey, which is published today.
This year’s survey received 902 responses from engineers working across 12 broad sectors throughout the UK and is based on fieldwork carried out during January 2024.
According to this year’s findings, the mean average salary for a UK engineer has increased from £57k to £65k in the past twelve months, a 13 per cent year on year increase. This increase, one of the largest spikes in our survey’s nine-year history, will be welcome news for anyone working in engineering or considering entering the profession - particularly as our previous three surveys highlighted a fairly lengthy period of stagnation - and indicates that engineering employers appear to be deploying a range of measures to attract and retain engineers.
In fact, alongside increased pay levels this year’s survey also points to a marked increase in the proportion of engineers enjoying bonus schemes, and a notable uplift in other benefits such as opportunities for remote working and access to private healthcare.
The bad news - for engineering employers at least - is that all of these efforts appear to have done little to sate the workforce’s growing appetite for change.
Whilst our 2023 report highlighted a scenario to strike fear into the hearts of personnel departments up and down the land, little seems to have changed twelve months on; with just under half of our 900 respondents considering a change of role and almost 60 per cent unhappy with their salaries.
Asked about their main motivation for a change of role, respondents unsurprisingly cite salary as the key factor, but only just. Of almost equal importance is a clear career progression path and the opportunity to embrace new challenges.
Commenting on this year’s findings Jon Excell, editor of The Engineer said: “As it does every year, The Engineer’s salary survey gives us some fascinating insights into the hopes, ambitions and priorities of UK engineers. One clear message to emerge from this year’s report – which points to a growing appetite for change despite markedly improved pay levels - is that employers are not going to solve their skills challenges simply by increasing salaries and showering staff with benefits. In fact, in an ever more competitive market these things are something of a given for job-seekers.”
Full analysis of this year's findings can be found in the April issue of The Engineer, which can be read here.
As always, the survey results have been fed into our popular online salary benchmarking tool, where you can see how your salary stacks up against that of your industry peers.
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