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According to a report from recruitment company Mercer Human Resource Consultants, of the 36 countries where it recruits, the Swiss pay the most for IT managers.
Switzerland is probably most famous for its watches, cheeses and international reputation for non-partisanship. But it could also be on the cusp of earning a reputation for being the choice place to work for IT professionals.
According to a report from recruitment company Mercer Human Resource Consultants, of the 36 countries where it recruits, the Swiss pay the most for IT managers. On average, IT managers in Switzerland can expect to be paid $161,900 each year; that is 25% more than the average salary in Germany, the second highest IT earners.
That suggests that for the ambitious IT professional, never mind Perl, C++ or Cobol, German could be the language to learn. On the whole, European companies pay more to their top IT staff than anywhere else in the world: eight out of the top 10 highest-paying countries are European.
In part this is explained by the fierce competition for experienced IT staff in Europe, says Stephen Cahill, partner at Mercer. "Multinational organisations rely heavily on their global IT operations, so they need to ensure their pay is competitive," he adds.
Elsewhere on the list, the UK comes seventh, but more surprisingly, the US trails at number 14. The average pay for IT managers in the US is just $89,100.
That is in marked contrast to the relative positions in the World Bank's league table of gross domestic product (GDP). According to the World Bank, the US's GDP far outstrips its closest rivals. Switzerland only ranks 17th.
In effect, Swiss IT directors are given proportionately higher wages than their international counterparts, when considered in relation to GDP. The Swiss, it seems, really value CIOs.
At the bottom end of the pay scale, IT managers in Vietnam earn on average $20,100. Those in India - ranked 34th out the 36 countries polled - the average pay was $26,500. In GDP terms, India is now ranked at number 10 in the world.
"Although pay in Asia and Eastern Europe tends to be much lower, it would be difficult for companies to outsource the IT manager role to these regions. Instead, we may see a migration of IT skills from lower paying countries to places in Western Europe and North America," said Cahill.
