Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
The 2012 Arras People Project Management Benchmark Report is out - the 7th annual study of the project management industry that the company has produced. The company surveyed over 2000 project professionals, mostly UK based. This year, there were some interesting results reported around budgets and salaries.
What's your budget?
Nearly a third of project managers are responsible for budgets between £1m and £5m, which is the category that had the highest response rate. Programme managers manage the larger budgets, with 37% managing between £1m and £5m and 29% having a budget of over £5m.
Contractors have responsibility for larger budgets than employed project managers, which surprised me. They also typically have more staff working for them - again, I found this surprising. It shows that contractors aren't just brought in to fill recruitment gaps but to take the lead on significant change initiatives with significant spans of control.
How much do you earn?
The survey looked at salary movements. 83% of respondents reported that their salary increased by less than inflation in 2011 - a virtual pay cut. Unsurprisingly, the public sector was the worst hit, since the pay freeze was announced. Over 60% of public sector workers reported that their salary hadn't changed, compared to under a third of private sector project workers. The average salaries were:
• Project manager: £43,762
• Programme Office and Portfolio managers: £57,560
• Programme manager: £58,788
• PPM Consultant: £67,237 (and 46% of them feel worse off than they did last year)
For mid-range salaried jobs, the public sector is the place to be. Many more employees earn in the £35k to £50k range than in the private sector. If you want to earn more than about £55k, move to the private sector - that's where the higher paid jobs are.
If you get a bonus at all, it's likely to be up to 8% of salary according to the survey. Only 2% of people receive over 25% of salary as a bonus, so if you fall into that category, consider yourself lucky.
Contractor day rates also took a dive, especially at the lower end of the pay scale. Where day rates were already low, it looks like hiring managers have squeezed them even further.
What's next for salaries in 2012?
The experts at Arras are expecting it to be another tough year for the public sector. 95% of public sector survey respondents are predicting no change or less than inflationary change in the coming 12 months.
Private sector workers are expected to fare better. Nearly two thirds of project professionals are expecting to get a rise this year. Arras is predicting that there won't be huge increases (for huge read over 5%) but that salaries will increase this year.
21% of contractors are predicting that their rates will decrease over the next year - not good for those already suffering the effects of rate declines in 2011.
So in summary, 2011 was tough and 2012 is likely to be a little bit better, but not much. However, project and programme work still remains well-paid and sought after, so it is still a good employment sector to be in.
How do you think salaries and bonuses will evolve in your country over the next year?
Posted on: March 26, 2012 03:22 PM |
Permalink