Now in its 34th year, the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) Compensation Survey was conducted in February 2022. The survey collected data on total compensation earned during the 2021 calendar year, as well as data on base salaries effective January 1, 2022. Key among the findings was the fact that financial professionals gained an average 4.4% base salary increase in 2022, a 1.5% gain over the previous year. The increase in salary breaks down further as a gain of 4.3% for executive- and management-tier professionals, and a gain of 4.5% for the
staff-tier.
BONUSES
In 2021, 69% of organizations awarded bonuses to their employees, unchanged from 2020. Of the three job tiers, executive-tier financial professionals received the largest average bonuses in 2021, which was, on average, $68,494, or 35% of base salary, an increase from the $61,555 reported in 2020.
BENEFITS
Nearly all organizations (98%) provide health insurance for their employees, and 95% provide dental insurance. For the first time since AFP began tracking paid paternity leave, the percentage of employers offering this benefit was the same as those offering paid maternity leave (58 percent).
CAREER ADVANCEMENT
Various factors influence a financial professional’s potential for promotion. The primary criterion for upward mobility is increased job responsibility (cited by 79 percent of respondents). Fifty-two percent of respondents indicated their contribution to department or company profitability impacts their upward mobility
CHALLENGES
Recruiting, personnel issues and staffing was cited by 44% of respondents as the greatest challenge faced in their current role, followed by volume of work (40%) and limited resources (39%).
RESIGNATION TRENDS
Over two-thirds (68%) of respondents report that employees at their organizations resigned from their jobs in the past six months. The primary reason driving employees to resign is dissatisfaction with compensation and benefits, as cited by 51% of respondents. Almost half (47%) indicate that employees resigned due to experiencing burnout and seeking work-life balance. Financial professionals expect these resignation trends to continue in the next 12 months
CURBING STAFF ATTRITION AND BUILDING LOYALTY
An encouraging 67% of respondents reported that their organizations are taking steps to curb staff attrition. Respondents ranked offering a flexible work environment as the most important action employers can take to curb staff attrition and build loyalty.
“Given the extreme struggles within our current economic environment, the increase in base salaries across all tiers of the financial profession is encouraging,” said Jim Kaitz,
AFP president and CEO. “As the Great Resignation continues, it is important that organizations continue listening — and responding to — the needs and professional wants of their employees.”
Responses to the survey came from 1,910 financial professionals holding the 19 job titles tracked and provided salary information for 3,352 incumbents.
Comprehensive 2022 AFP Compensation Survey results are available at afponline.org/CompReport.
