Compensation Pool for MIS Executives slides!

For the first time the compensation pool for senior MIS executives has stayed flat or fallen

Many organizations are now seeing the benefit of downsizing and outsourcing. As a result, MIS salaries as an absolute dollar amount are lower. The total compensation of the top layers of management - measured as a group - has fallen. This is a direct result of a reduction in the number of senior MIS positions as well as a reduction in the layers of management. Productivity has improved.

These findings were made in a confidential study analysis of over seventy firms across the nation. The firms all had MIS budgets two years ago of between $45MM to $125MM. A significant number of these organizations no longer exist or have had their operations merged into others. Of this group of firms the following observations were made:

• The tenure of top MIS executives (CIOs) has fallen from 22 months to a little over 18 months.
• The number of individuals in the management ranks has fallen. Fewer people are managing more.
• With the movement to client server, salary medians are moving down. Individuals are being paid more but they are less tenured than those in the "main-frame" world.
• Many senior MIS professionals have entered the ranks of the permanently unemployed MIS professionals. With the aging of this population, career changes are common.
• The MIS total departmental salary budgets have fallen by over 12% in the last two years. Fewer people are in the MIS function. There has been a strong move to the end user.
• The range of salaries have risen modestly through the recession. Where high demand skills used to command a 10% to 15% premium, there now is little significant difference.
• Within many organizations, average compensation levels have risen with the elimination of layers of management while retaining staff members with high tenure. We found one case where a "tape librarian" was being paid over $73,000. Great job if you can find it. Many senior MIS professionals have entered the ranks of the permanently un-employed

All of this data was gathered in its normal consulting practice. Based on client demand, we are in the formative steps of providing a quarterly service to provide comparative benchmark and metric data. This information will be gathered by survey and consolidated once a quarter.

On an annual basis we will provide a comparative analysis for each participating organization. This analysis will include size of organization and industry metrics. The data is of a confidential and competitive nature. It is for this reason that no mentions will be provided of any findings to the general public for a period of six months. Comparative measures will be provide in the following areas:

• Financial
• Staffing
• Competitive/Comparative
• Productivity
• System Development
• Office Automation/Client Server
• Quality Assurance
• Help Desk
• Computer Operations
• Communications
• Other (to be defined by participants