Archinect - News

Ranking UK firms by pay: The Pay 100's report on salaries and unpaid overtime

2023-11-02T12:10:00-04:00

The UK-based salary transparency advocates The Pay 100 have released their latest set of survey data on average salaries across UK firms. Expanding upon last year’s inaugural snapshot of results, the 2023 addition also includes data on unpaid overtime.

As reported by the Architect’s Journal, almost 1000 submissions have been made to the database. Like the 2022 edition, the latest tables are organized into three common job titles in the UK industry: Part I Architectural Assistant (less than three years in the role), Part II Architectural Assistant (less than three years in the role), and Architect / Architectural Designer (less than five years in the role).

The Archinect Salary Poll features thousands of crowdsourced salary data from across the architecture community

For Part I Assistants, the highest average annual surveys were to be found at Foster + Partners (£31,000), Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (£30,000), Burwell Architects (£30,000), and Zaha Hadid Architects (£29,000). For Par...

New York State’s salary transparency law comes into effect

2023-09-18T11:48:00-04:00

New York State’s pay transparency law has come into effect, requiring employers to disclose proposed pay rates. As of Sunday, September 17th, employers with at least four workers must disclose the minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly range of compensation in any advertisement for job, promotion, and transfer opportunities.

The law covers advertised opportunities “physically performed, at least in part, in the State of New York,” including “any opportunities that are performed outside the state, including remote or telecommuting opportunities, that report to a supervisor, office or other work site in New York State.”

“If an employee’s physical presence in New York State is only for occasional work-related purposes, such as a meeting, a conference, or communicating with employees based in New York State, that would not be enough activity to be considered a job performed in New York State,” New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) adds.

Related on Archinect: The 15 highest-pa...

The 15 highest-paying countries for architects, according to Yahoo! and ERI research

2023-09-11T13:21:00-04:00

Yahoo! Finance has compiled a list of the highest-paying countries for architects. Using data acquired from the Economic Research Institute (ERI), the outlet “identified the countries with the highest demand for architects and then made a list for 27 countries with the average salaries for architects.”

“Of those 27, the 15 with the highest average salaries were selected and have been ranked,” Yahoo data journalist Afifa Mushtaque added.

Yahoo!’s resulting list of countries, and the average salary for architects, is as follows (salaries in USD):

Switzerland — $130,898
Luxembourg — $111,552
United States — $100,330
Denmark — $96,877
Ireland — $89,943
Belgium — $87,626
Germany — $84,679
Australia — $84,230
Norway — $83,515
Netherlands — $82,893
United Arab Emirates — $79,274
Canada — $78,019
Finland — $76,279
France — $73,627
United Kingdom — $72,557

Yahoo!’s analysis derives from data collected by the ERI...

Quality-of-life benefits increasing in architecture firms, but compensation lags behind inflation, says AIA report

2023-08-30T13:51:00-04:00

The AIA has released what it describes as its “most comprehensive report on architecture firm compensation and benefits trends in 15 years.” The 2023 edition of the AIA Compensation & Benefits Report includes an analysis of how firms have addressed rising inflation, staff shortages, increased financial pressure, and the impact of such pressures on recruitment and retention.

The report found there to be a rise in “quality-of-life benefits” at firms, particularly casual dressing policies, child-friendly and pet-friendly offices, flexible work hours, work-from-home opportunities, and adopting Juneteenth as a paid holiday. 57% of firms also reported hiring students for part-time work in 2022, an increase from 35% in 2020.

A greater emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion was noted at firms, with 73% of large firms reporting having internal values-based employee committees and resource groups. 66% of large firms also conducted salary assessments by gender in 2022, and 62% by race.

...

New York State to require salary ranges in job adverts from September 2023

2022-12-22T12:36:00-05:00

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation establishing a statewide pay transparency law in New York State. The law was passed by both the New York State Assembly and Senate in June, and requires employers to list salary ranges for all advertised jobs and promotions.

The new legislation closely resembles a similar salary transparency law that recently came into force in New York City last month, requiring employers of at least four businesses with four or more employees in the city, including architecture firms, to include salary ranges in job adverts or risk a financial penalty.

The New York State law will apply to jobs which “can or will be performed” in the state, as well as positions that are performed out of state but report to a New York employer. Individuals will be able to report violations of the law to the New York State Department of Labor, which can issue fines for non-compliance....

UK salary transparency group releases first average pay lists in architecture firms

2022-11-03T04:00:00-04:00

A UK-based organization dedicated to salary transparency in architecture has published its first snapshot of salary results following hundreds of grassroots submissions. As we reported in October, The Pay 100 is calling on architecture workers in the UK to submit their salaries to the group, who will ultimately publish a list of the top 100 salary averages of UK practices.

The first salaries published by the group are organized in three categories corresponding to typical positions in the UK architecture profession. The group anticipate an additional seven categories will be published when sufficient data is collected.

The Archinect Salary Poll features thousands of crowdsourced salary data from across the architecture community

The three published categories center on positions typically occupied by those in the earlier part of their architectural career. The first category, “Part I Architectural Assistant <3 years” represents those in the UK system who are working in a practice ha...

UK worker-led group launched to improve salary transparency in architecture firms

2022-10-13T03:13:00-04:00

A worker-led organization has launched in the United Kingdom with the aim of improving salary transparency in the architecture profession. The Pay 100, founded earlier this year, is currently calling on architecture workers in the UK to submit their salaries to the group, who will ultimately publish a list of the top 100 salary averages of UK practices.

“By incentivising higher wages using pay transparency, we can help reduce fee-undercutting between practices and benefit the profession as a collective,” the group says. “This is a systemic issue in which no one practice is solely responsible.”

The Archinect Salary Poll features thousands of crowdsourced salary data from across the architecture community

The motivation for The Pay 100 is fuelled by a stagnation of UK architectural salaries in recent years. According to the group, the annual publication of pay-scale bands for architectural positions in the UK has caused salaries to stand still despite rising costs of living.

“If we be...

Companies divided over including salaries in job adverts, survey finds

2022-10-05T15:36:00-04:00

A series of salary transparency laws emerging across the U.S. is already having an impact on how companies approach disclosing pay range information, one survey has found. The study, undertaken by insurance advisor company WTW, found that many businesses are choosing to include information on salary ranges in job adverts, even when not required to under state or local laws.

WTW’s Pay Clarity Survey elicited 388 responses from businesses across North America, and was not specific to architecture or the AEC industry.

The survey was conducted between June 27th and July 8th of this year, at a time when several U.S. states were advancing plans to introduce salary transparency laws for job adverts. In May, it was confirmed that New York City businesses will have to disclose salary ranges in job adverts starting from November 2022, while a similar move by New York State was advanced in June.

In early September, California lawmakers updated and passed their own salary transparency law, wh...

California lawmakers pass salary transparency law for job adverts

2022-09-02T11:43:00-04:00

Legislators in California have passed a bill strengthening the state’s pay transparency requirements. Elements contained in the bill, SB 1162, include a requirement for many employers to include salary ranges in job postings, disclose salary scales to employees for their current positions, and to file pay data reports.

The new bill requires an employer with 15 or more employees to include a pay scale in any job posting, and to maintain records of their employees' job titles and wage rate histories. The bill also requires that employers of 15 or more employees using a third party to advertise job postings to provide the pay scale to the third party for publication.

Upon request, an employer must provide an employee with the pay scale for the position in which the employee is currently employed. The bill also requires employers with...

Where the RIBA presidential candidates stand on key issues

2022-07-19T12:13:00-04:00

On July 26th, voting closes for the election of the next RIBA president. When the winner commences their two-year term as president on September 1st, 2023, they will be confronted with a list of burning issues across the UK’s architectural profession; and will be expected to publicly lead a response.

Some issues are specific to the UK context: a turbulent national political landscape, the soaring cost of indemnity insurance, and the implementation of new or upcoming UK laws on planning, construction, and emissions, to name a few. Other issues are specific to RIBA itself: an institution which has seemingly lurched from crisis to crisis in recent times, be it on accusations of inadequate diversity, election rule changes, or just this week, questions over a “buried” internal report on bullying.

These UK-specific issues aside, many of the challenges facing the UK professi...

New York State may join NYC in wage transparency laws after senate vote

2022-06-09T08:00:00-04:00

A bill has passed both the New York State Assembly and Senate which would require employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings. If signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul, New York would become the latest state to pass wage transparency laws, following similar moves in Colorado, Nevada, Connecticut, California, Washington, and Maryland.

The news comes one month after New York City confirmed that its own salary disclosure laws would come into effect from November 1st of this year, following a six-month delay. The NYC law will require businesses with four or more employees in the city, including architecture firms, to include salary ranges in job adverts or risk a financial penalty.

The New York State bill, named S9427, pertains to adverts for new job positions, promotions, or transfer opportunities that will be fully or partly performed in the state of New Y...

New AIA report reveals salary decline across most positions at small architecture firms between 2019 and 2021

2021-12-02T19:19:00-05:00

The third edition of AIA’s Small Firm Compensation Report has been released detailing how sole proprietorships and firms with fewer than three architectural staff employees fared during the tumultuous period between 2019 and 2021.

The report includes data on compensation trends, employee demographics, trends in pay practices, and details on employee benefits. It also details pandemic impacts to salaries, employment levels, and firm culture.

According to AIA, for most positions at small architecture firms, salaries declined or remained the same between from 2019 to 2021. Firm leaders saw the steepest compensation declines, most notably solo architects, who experienced average annual losses of 6.5 percent if they were sole proprietors and annual losses of 7.3 percent if they were not sole proprietors. Firm principals who are sole proprietors also saw losses, for an average annual decrease of 3.8 percent from 2019 to 2021.

Previously on Archinect: Architects' compensations have not ...

Architects' compensations have not kept pace with the broader economy, new AIA report on architecture salaries during COVID-19 finds

2021-08-25T11:42:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has released the latest edition of their biannual Compensation Report, offering an insight into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on architectural salaries. The report found that despite a steep economic recession during the first half of 2020, salaries for architectural staff in the U.S. saw little change over the past two years.

The report also found that between February and July 2020, U.S. architecture firms lost 16,000 positions, or 8% of all payroll positions. The profession nonetheless showed a higher resiliency compared to the overall economy, where 21 million payroll positions, or 16.5% of total payrolls, were lost.

“Like many professions, architecture firms across the country have had to weather an incredibly volatile period,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker. “While we have seen an unprecedented recovery in architecture firm billings during 2021, this report provides a valuable snapshot of the impact the pandemic had l...

Wages for architectural workers are up—That's the good news

2019-09-11T19:22:00-04:00

The latest compensation survey conducted by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has found that in recent years, as demand for design services has increased and unemployment has fallen to historic lows, average pay for architecture staff has increased by over $10,000.

The report credits a 40-percent increase in non-residential construction spending since 2017 with the gains, as well. This economic activity has helped boost pay for architectural workers at a rate 2.5-times the rate of wage growth for all other professional staff in the United States, according to an AIA press release.

That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that the last time this level of wage growth took place, in 1999 and again in 2008, was "either just prior to, or as the economy and the construction sectors were entering national economic downturns," the organization writes.

This AIA graph illustrates national architecture firm billings, design contracts, and inquiries between July 2018 – July 2019....

2013 AIA Compensation Report - It Pays to be Senior

2013-08-16T14:58:00-04:00

It’s no longer so bleak. For all the dispiriting data in the 2013 AIA Compensation Report, there are plenty of reassuring numbers, too. Although overall architecture salaries barely inched up since the last AIA report, in 2011, and salaries for most positions again failed to keep up with the pace of inflation, senior design and project management staff enjoyed a nice bump in compensation.

Wanna find out where your salary stands in comparison with thousands of other architects? Head over to Archinect's Architecture Salary Poll, submit your info anonymously, and start comparing: salaries.archinect.com.