A staggering 42 percent of UK L&D professionals have not received a pay rise in the past few months.
More than half (54%) do not feel comfortable asking for one either.
Among those who have had pay rises, half (52%) were below the rate of inflation and 45 percent were as low as 1 percent-3 percent – half the rate of inflation.
Also, 23 percent say they lack opportunities to develop at work.
This is according to two reports published today by the global collaborative learning SaaS leader 360Learning comparing salaries, progression and satisfaction in corporate Learning and Development (L&D) teams across the UK and US.
With 22 percent of UK L&D professionals thinking about leaving the sector, there are clear disparities around salaries, progression and gender across the industry.
The L&D sector has some challenges ahead when it comes to developing professionals. There is an urgent need for benchmark reports to ensure these essential business roles are empowered and compensated for their work.
What is the average salary?
The results show that the most common annual salary range, across all roles in the UK was found to be between £30-£39k a year, with the average salary coming in at £31.6k. People working in voluntary sectors were the most likely to earn below £39k, while people in the private sector had the greatest chances of earning above £80k.
L&D Managers in both the UK and US were found to attract the highest salaries. A quarter of L&D Managers in the UK earned between £50-£59k while more than a third (41%) earned more than $100k in the US.
Managers in the industry can be overseeing anything from one person to a team of over 15, demonstrating large disparities in the size of teams. The people that tended to earn the least in the UK were L&D Administrators with salaries below £30k. In the US, the lowest wages (less than $70k) went more towards Instructional Designers and Learning Specialists.
The gender pay gap
Unfortunately, a third of UK women surveyed were found to earn less than the national average (31,285), versus only a fifth of men.
Half of the women in the UK earned less than £39k, versus only 36 percent of men.
Also, only a quarter of women said they earn more than £40k, compared to 41 percent of their male counterparts.
What are the reported preventions to advancing their careers?
More women are likely to report that childcare and family are preventing them from growing at work (6%) compared to men (1%) in the UK, whilst in the US around 4 percent of people report personal or family reasons as limiting their advancement.
There is clearly work needed to be done to close the gender pay gap in L&D and ensure people are not being held back because of their personal circumstances.
Retaining talent
With around 4 percent of people in the US saying they want to leave L&D, rising up to 22 percent in the UK, the impact of the Great Resignation is still being felt around the world.
It is critical that L&D professionals feel empowered at work in order to be able to deliver the training and support that other employees need to thrive at work.
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
