A recent webinar to analyze the 2023 IAPP Privacy Professionals Salary Survey gave attendees a high-level overview of the survey’s unprecedented exploration of global compensation and job market trends in the privacy industry. Panelists included 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 – all of whom offered several glimpses into the monumental research efforts that resulted in myriad statistics on what respondents earned, how they earned their compensation, where they were located, and their compensation based on their job titles. However, a surprising statistic stood out from the panelists’ discussion: More than two-thirds of privacy pros surveyed said they still worked from home more than they do in an office, and 40% were fully remote.
Considering that the industry is now well past the pandemic, this high percentage may have surprised some. That statistic tied into many more aspects of the remote work versus office work debate, and was also instrumental in an overwhelming majority of respondents saying they were extremely happy in their roles.
By contrast, in the 2021 survey, more than 80% of respondents worked entirely from home and 11% “mostly” worked from home.
The actual percentages are much higher than what privacy pros thought they would be doing in the 2021 Salary Survey.
The IAPP and TRU researchers then went one step farther in their research and learned that privacy analysts and engineers were the professionals most likely to be remote: nearly eight out of 10 privacy analysts and six out of 10 privacy engineers worked from home. About one in 10 of those surveyed with the job title of cybersecurity professional, DPO, or external privacy lawyer were fully office-based. Four out of 10 respondents who identified as DPOs worked from the office more than at home.
Coseglia noted that in terms of his clients and privacy placements, organizations that offered more remote capability had many more candidates to chose from when hiring for open positions.
If you are a privacy pro looking for in-depth salary data on the industry or a hiring manager wanting to know what the best pros are earning, you need a copy of this full 2023 IAPP Privacy Professional Salary Survey. Download your copy online today.