HR Tech Group’s annual BC Tech Salary Survey has been released and the numbers are great with salaries and headcount in B.C. continuing to increase.
B.C.’s tech sector is experiencing an incredibly fast-moving compensation market with Vancouver paying some of the highest rates in the country for high demand tech jobs.
According to the survey, Vancouver’s median Research and Development and Software salaries are now higher than both Toronto and Montreal. In B.C.’s tech sector there has been a steep increase in salaries this year, with people in the same roles experiencing a median salary increase of 3.7%.
This salary increase is much greater for some role levels, with entry-level employees and specialists seeing 5.1% and 4.7% increases respectively. The Gaming sub-sector was particularly hot, with salaries increasing by 6.6%.
Roles with the most drastic increases in compensation include Entry level Software Developer, a great sign for recent university grads and those entering the industry via coding schools like BrainStation, Lighthouse Labs, and RED Academy.
“BC has become a major force in the tech industry, not only in Canada but across North America, and we are seeing compensation trends reflect that,” said Stephanie Hollingshead, CEO of the HR Tech Group. “Our industry has a globally competitive workforce that is continuing to drive economic value for our province.”
From an entry-level perspective, one area of particular interest is Engineering. The survey finds that BC companies are paying recent engineering graduates 8.5% higher than the national average.
In line with this increasing compensation market, anticipated headcount growth in 2020 across BC’s tech sector is sitting at 13%, with subsectors like Cleantech expecting 19% growth and Gaming expecting headcount growth of 18%.
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The 2019 BC Tech Salary Survey reports salary and incentive data from 134 organizations representing 20,310 individual employees – an increase of 11% in participation compared to last year.
With the industry experiencing voluntary turnover of 13.2%, slightly higher than the national average of 12.1%, the survey also reports that perks and workplace benefits are heavily relied upon to gain a competitive edge when attracting top talent to B.C.
Workplace benefits like flexible work hours, work from home options, and fully equipped game rooms and flex spaces are now provided by the vast majority of tech organizations, and benefits such as paid time off to volunteer are quickly increasing in prevalence and being considered by many others.
Recruitment consultant and Rectxt co-founder Bradley Clark recently reiterated the importance of workplace benefits when trying to compete for talent in the Vancouver market.