Marketers are increasingly facing more work without a significant raise in pay, according to exclusive data from Marketing Week’s 2024 Career Salary Survey. The annual study surveyed more than 3,000 brand-side marketers. It reveals almost half (40.1%) of marketers say they are being asked to take on more responsibility without an adequate increase in salary.
Senior marketing leaders are feeling the burden most significantly, with 42.6% reporting a rise in workload without a corresponding salary bump. However, the issue isn’t confined to top leadership. Two-fifths (40.7%) of marketers in management positions and 38.4% of junior marketers are also experiencing a workload increase without a proportionate raise.
Interestingly, marketers at larger companies tend to feel more overworked than those at smaller businesses. More than 38.7% of SME marketers say their workload has increased without a pay rise. In comparison, this number jumps to 41.5% for marketers in larger companies. The issue seems to remain pronounced across various types of organizations, including B2B, B2C, and hybrid companies.
As for the additional responsibilities, marketers are encountering a wide range. Some of these include media relations, brand management, technical updates, digital strategy, leading recruitment for junior marketers, and marketing apprenticeships.
The situation is deeply impacting all levels of the profession, from senior and middle managers to junior employees—with juniors often ending up performing roles requiring managerial-level responsibilities while still earning a assistant-level salary.
Marketing Week plans to publish features on this issue in the weeks ahead, delving into areas such as how the situation came about, gender disparities, and possible solutions.
Source: Marketers forced to take on more responsibility without an uplift in pay, survey finds }}.
