In Data Privacy, Do You Ask for a Raise or Look for a New Job?

There is always apprehension around asking for a raise. Some employees might not want to appear greedy or may not know how to phrase the request. However, this problem does not appear to affect the privacy industry, according to new data from the 2023 IAPP & TRU Privacy Professionals Salary Survey. A recent webinar hosted by TRU's Founder & CEO Jared Coseglia, alongside IAPP Principal Researcher in Privacy Management Saz Kanthasamy, CIPP/E, CIPM, FIP, and IAPP Research & Insights Director Joe Jones, covered the highlights from the survey research. This survey, developed by the IAPP in tandem with TRU Staffing Partners, delves deeply into all phases of privacy professionals’ complete compensation over the past year. More than 1,400 pros answered the survey across 60 countries.

Data Privacy Raises by Role

The survey results showed that about eight out of 10 (76%) of respondents received a raise in the previous 12 months. This is higher than the six out of 10 (63%) privacy professionals who reported a raise in the 2021 survey.  As you can see from the chart below, the light green bar shows that privacy champions, privacy risk and compliance managers, and privacy engineers received the highest percentage raise of base salary within the last year.

• There has been a 10% increase in base salary from 2019 based on raises
• Between 2021 and 2023, privacy professionals received double the raises as they had the previous two years
• Six out 10 respondents received a raise between 1% and 9% of their previous base salary, while 18% of this group received a raise of more than 20% of their base salary
• The amount of raises shows how high the privacy pros’ value is to organizations and how it continues to increase dramatically
• The more skills and experience a privacy professional has, the more compensation and perks come their way – and increases are dramatic and plentiful. Note how the line in the chart below flies up between 2021 and 2023.

Fight or Flight: Which is Better When it Comes to Data Privacy Compensation?

Coseglia noted that you might want to flee to a new job, because switching jobs brought candidates higher base compensation much more quickly (22% to 40% more) than waiting around for a raise of 7% to 10%.



And he offered this prediction to the webinar attendees: Raises higher than 7% to 10% over the next two years is highly unlikely due to macroeconomic conditions. However, salary increases at the point of hire are maintaining post-pandemic percentages based on high demand and low supply of candidates, especially for mid-market professionals.

The salary survey respondents averaged about six years of experience. Coseglia noted that privacy pros with three to six years of experience are currently in the highest demand but have the lowest relative supply in the job market. No raise offered can come close to the 22% to 40% base comp offered for midmarket professionals at the point of hire currently. And cash compensation in both base and bonus is still the primary means with which employers are retaining and attracting talent.

Get Your Free Salary Report!

If you are an industry pro and want to learn what your peers are earning or are a hiring manager looking to bring in the next top privacy talent team, you need this report to stay on top of the latest market trends. Download the 2023 IAPP & TRU Privacy Professionals Salary Survey today.