Executive salaries in the public sector: Savings bank career beats IT career

Executive salaries at public IT companies are only just above average compared to other top jobs at federal, state and local level, according to a study by Zeppelin University. According to the study, the median gross annual salary for IT board members is 169,000 euros, plus variable remuneration of up to 25,000 euros. The average annual salary for public sector CEOs is a median of 167,000 euros – and 28,000 euros variable.

IT bosses cannot keep up with the top group: According to the study, savings banks top the list with 390,000 euros (plus 38,000 euros variable), followed by top positions at airports and seaports (278,000 euros fixed and 84,000 variable), in public broadcasting (250,000 euros fixed), at municipal utilities and suppliers (231,000 euros fixed and 41,000 euros variable) and hospitals (222,000 euros fixed and 43,000 euros variable).

Small database, great lack of transparency

According to the authors of the study, the significant differences can initially be explained by the very different sizes of companies in the various sectors; however, there are also differences in remuneration between companies of the same size in different sectors. For example, a top management member in a rather large IT company (over 246 employees) has a median gross annual salary of 238,000 euros. But here too, savings bank board members came out on top, even if they head a smaller savings bank (fewer than 223 employees), where the median is EUR 293,000.

In addition, the data situation in the field of public IT companies is extremely thin, with just ten companies disclosing their salaries. The authors of the study see this in the context of a generally widespread lack of transparency in the public sector. Only a fraction of the approximately 7000 public companies in Germany publish personal salary data. Only around 20 percent of top management members at municipal level disclosed their remuneration, compared to 42.2 percent at federal and state level. In 239 municipalities, no bosses disclosed their salary at all. "Complete remuneration transparency, including often controversial pension schemes, must be established and remuneration must be discussed in the peer group. We need fair pay across the board and no envy debates," demanded study co-author Professor Ulf Papenfuß.

If salary data collected by personnel portals for C-level positions in IT is used for comparison, an annual salary of EUR 169,000 sounds plausible despite the sparse database. For example, the personnel service provider Robert Half calculated a gross annual median salary of 120,000 euros for Chief Technology Officer, 149,000 euros for Chief Security Officer and 166,000 euros for Chief Information Officer. Gehalt.de also knows the Head of IT, who has a gross median salary of 147,900 euros per year. Only the Chief Information Officer receives more at 191,400 euros. So here, too, one could draw the conclusion: When it comes to money, savings bank.

(axk)