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IT Training survey summary for conference delegates

Delegates to this year's Institute of IT Training (IITT) National Trainers' Conference, in Coventry on 18th May, will receive a free management summary of the 'IT Training Professionals Climate Survey'. This major survey of the IT training profession was commissioned by the IITT and conducted by specialist market research and training consultancy, Lorien Customer Focus (LCF).

LCF gathered the data from 758 IT training professionals. Of these, 60 per cent were female; 90 per cent work in the industry full time; 50 per cent work in London or the South East of England and 62 per cent describe themselves as 'classroom trainers'.

Among the significant changes within the industry since the previous survey, in 2001, is the rise in e-learning. While, in 2001, only five per cent of respondents claimed to be working in any e-learning capacity, the figure in 2003 was 25 per cent.

LCF's Lizzi Seear revealed: "The largest employer of IT trainers in the UK is the health sector - which accounts for 25 per cent of the total. The next largest employers are 'government' (14 per cent) and 'finance (11 per cent')."

The key points from the survey are:

Salary & Benefits

The average full time salary for someone in the IT training industry is £29,130 pa. The average full time salary ranges from e-learning managers (£33,460 pa) to open learning centre facilitators (£22,437 pa).

The average salary within the commercial training provider sector is £34,800. Average salaries in this sector are highest in London (£40,250) and the South East (£37,150) and lowest in the Midlands (£27,250).

Among those who are employed full time, some 67 per cent have a higher salary now compared with their salary 12 months previously. Among part time staff, this figure is 44 per cent. Only seven per cent of full time employees and 11 per cent of part time employees have a lower salary now than they did 12 months previously.

Salary increases over the previous 12 months were greatest for those in technical support (83 per cent have received pay rises in the previous year) and training administration (78 per cent) and least for e-learning tutors (65 per cent).
Those most likely to have had a decrease in salary compared with 12 months previously were open learning facilitators (11 per cent of these had experienced pay cuts).

Of the employed IT trainers who took a pay cut over the previous 12 months, the average pay cut was 27 per cent.

Additional Benefits

The top three benefits - in addition to salary - for those in the IT training industry are: pension (81 per cent); private health care (45 per cent) and bonus pay (35 per cent). Other benefits received are: life assurance (29 per cent); car allowance (22 per cent); company car (12 per cent), leaving 12 per cent for 'other benefits'.

Self-employed

Some 16 per cent of the survey's respondents are self-employed IT trainers. When asked for their average daily rate, the answers ranged from 'below £100' to '£800'. The overall average fee charged by a self-employed IT trainer is £286 a day.
The highest fees are charged by those in the e-learning sector: the average fee for a freelancer working in the e-learning field is £297, compared with £248 for a classroom trainer.

Of those working full time, self-employed trainers work an average of 45 hours per week (full time employed staff work, on average 41 hours a week). The average weekly working hours for those working part time is 27 hours - for both the employed and self-employed trainers.

Life/Work Balance

The average IT training professional works some 40 hours a week - although some one per cent of respondents claimed to work over 60 hours a week. Some 70 per cent of respondents said that the number of hours that they worked were acceptable.

Career Development

IT trainers take career development seriously. When asked the main reason for attending training programmes or achieving qualifications, 93 per cent said that is was to 'gain knowledge and skills'. The other reasons given were: better employment opportunities (64 per cent); job promotion (30 per cent); it is required by employers (29 per cent); in order to get a pay rise (27 per cent); it is required by clients (25 per cent), and job security (21 per cent). Only 55 per cent of respondents said that they have access to the training and skills development that they need.

The Future

Nine out of ten respondents said that they find their job interesting and over 60 per cent predict that they have a long term future within the industry.

According to Colin Steed, the IITT's chief executive: "The survey covered not only salaries and additional benefits but also life/work balance and career development. It showed that the average IT training professional works some 40 hours a week - with only one per cent of Institute members claiming to work 60 or more hours a week.

"There is a marked difference in working hours between those who are self-employed and those who are employed," Steed added. "This is likely to be a deliberate lifestyle choice and indicates that greater employer flexibility towards working hours may prove attractive when retaining IT training professionals.

"In terms of career development, it is heartening to see that 93 per cent of respondents undertake formal career development in order to gain knowledge and skills," he continued. "However, it is disappointing that only 55 per cent of respondents claimed to have access to all the training and skills development opportunities that they need.

"We are grateful to LCF for providing this valuable insight into the IT training industry and the professionals upon whom it depends," said Steed. He explained that the survey will become an annual event, enabling the IITT to benchmark future years' responses against the findings of this survey.

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