Planner Survey Results 2009

Account Planning Survey Results
August 2009

The 411

• Fi'h year to conduct the planning survey.

• Called upon planners to participate and pass on the survey.

• Bloggers again helped spread the word. Twitter really kicked in this year.

• Topics included the now usual suspects like salary, experience and satisfaction,
along with this year’s special questions around digital and connection planners,
state of the economy, what skills you need to get promoted and most respected
planner.

• 1217 completed surveys (compared to 798 last year) from April 24 – June 12.
– 53% Men/47% Women overall participated
• 44% Men/56% Women in the US
• 60% Men/40% Women outside US
– 532 from the USA/ 685 from Outside the USA
• Compared to last year: 461 from USA/337 from outside USA

• Numbers don’t always add up to 100 percent due to rounding.

Where do we work? (in percentages)

Company Types

8% from 2008

First-time to include
unemployed and multi-cultural
as a response.

*Note for non-USA folks: multi-cultural agencies are in the US creating content that more
speciﬁcally target Latino, African American or Asian audiences

Those hardest hit
Number of months
out of work
(percentages)

I was pretty surprised that only 3% are out of work – that’s still 31 real people, half in the US and half
overseas. But compared with US stats of 18% blue collar unemployment and 5% for white collar,
planners seem to be fairing better than average. Their general consensus is that things are moving slowly
and they are not very optimistic in the short-term, especially those not wanting to move. What can we
do for our fellow planner friends? Have you met someone for an informational meeting recently? Can
you make the time? When jobs do open up, we always need to ﬁll them quickly so why not?

Some overview info (in percentages)

Participants by Title
Agency Type

Does anyone have access to some Only 11% of international folks work

How representative is this sample?
industry averages? I couldn’t ﬁnd any. at a “medium” sized shop.

This is also the ﬁrst year to include
“Tiny” as a choice – All CEO/Presidents
picked this option showing they’ve
started their own businesses by
themselves or with a few employees

Some overview info cont. (in percentages)

What would you say is your company’s How is planning perceived
reputation in the industry?
at your company?

Size of Department
at oﬃce location
Among planners from Full-
service shops, only 14%
selected “Leading Discipline”

Oﬃcers and management (in percentages)
Are you an oﬃcer at your company
(i.e. VP, SVP, EVP) ?
Many small businesses
CEO/President
don’t use this system
Heads of Planning

Group Planning Directors

Sr. Planners

Planners

Asst. Planners

Is the Head of Planning at your company part of the executive
committee (i.e. top management)?

Are we using recruiters?

Answered “Yes” to Used a recruiter to get my current job.

A
2006
2007

2008
2009
Used a
recruiter 41%
30%
24%
28%
(USA)
Used a
recruiter
N/A
25%
24%
14%
(outside
USA)

As the number of respondents rise, these numbers become more and more
accurate, but I was surprised to see it drop so sharply outside the US this year.

Movin’ on up

This year I asked the 206 planning directors to help us tease out the diﬀerences in
skills between levels. So in a series of three questions they were asked what skills
they would need to see to promote an assistant planner to a planner (or what they
would look for in a planner hire), a planner to a senior planner (or hire), and a senior
planner to a group planning director (or hire).
The answers alluded to mystical rites of passage… I wish! More an understanding of
what career progression feels like if not pinning down one concrete answer. I
encourage you to read through their answers.
I really like a comment I found on Richard Huntington’s Adliterate from Tony.com
that seems to articulate the progression well:

“I guess its really about making sure that you are working on the business that values

what you are good at, at an agency that you are good at by telegraphing what you are

good and bad at.

Because one’s career as a planner probably goes in three parts>

Part 1) gaining your cra' skills. this is when you have to make sure that you are

passable at all the planning skills from data analysis to presentation.

Part 2) making your name. this is when you get to understand your own planning style

and because you are in the right place on the right business your career explodes.

Part 3) running the show. When you kinda have to be good at everything again

because you look a'er all the agency’s business and though you can be selective in

who gets your eﬀorts you still have to talk a good game across the piece.”

See all the open-ends as separate documents posted on Slideshare (my user ID is hklefevre).

Digital Planners

About 100 people who took the survey describe themselves as digital planners. To
the vast majority of them, they are simply taking similar skills and applying them to
new media. The difference o'en is in who drives the overall brand strategy. That
generally is the responsibility of the above the line agency. This also means less
strategic research that the digital folks get to steer.

“As a digital planner, I like to think what I do in the digital space

isn’t any different, at least in approach. I consider a planners job

to understand the intersection of culture, business and creativity

- and I strive for that across the board…
On a down note, not

being AOR means not having full control over your client brands,

which has been a bit of a mental shi' (and struggle) for me.”
Digital planners are also teaching their clients a lot about technology. But money is
swinging their way as TV and print budgets are shi'ed to digital.
This question prompted several people to identify themselves as integrated planners,
confident that they are working across the spectrum.

“I’m not one, but I consider digital in every strategy I work on. I

no longer see the point of uniquely ‘digital’ planners.”


Connection Planners

Only a handful of people identify themselves as connection or context planners.
They talk about finding insights to reach the right person and defining the target
more sharply. There seems to be a lot of overlap with media strategy.

“I am a connections planner or what my agency calls a “context”

planner. We do everything that an account planner does

(consumer understanding, insight development, applied strategic

thinking, ideation, facilitation, etc.) but focused on the

development of great connections/media strategies and ideas as

opposed to creative campaigns and ideas.”
I identified with the majority of folks who had some vague notion of connection
with the media strategy. Seems a bit like what we heard (or read) about when
planners first came on the scene. Creative would happen without planners, we just
hope an extra pair of hands make it better. Now I think connection planners are an
extra pair of hands on the media front.
Finally, there was quite a bit of confusion on this one, with people taking a pass with
“I don’t know.” This area is just not as established.


Which one agency has the best planning department?

Number of mentions

Very close call between BBH, CPB and WK. Several “new to the survey” mentions garnered a vote or
two and made me curious to know more: Zeus Jones (great blog), Sunshine (India?), Scholz & Friends
(doing cool stuﬀ Europe, HQ in Germany), Brooklyn Brothers (London and NY; love the philosophy on
the site), Bullet (Brazilian promotion agency) and Prophet (McKinsey-like, curious to know what you’re
doing there). I’m familiar with some but have only cursory knowledge. Any planners from these shops
want to point us to commentary on what you’re doing or guest blog for me?

*Note: Strawberry Frog Amsterdam has split oﬀ and is now Amsterdam Worldwide

Of all the planning directors out there, who would you most like to
be your boss? Or if you are the boss, who is the most respected
planning director in your opinion?

A NOTE
BRAZIL
Lots and lots of people said they don’t know or Our planejador friends were much more likely to
there is no one. A couple of people didn’t like the have an opinion here where Ken Fujioka of JWT
question and refused to play.
and Ulisses Zamboni of SantaClaraNitro got gobs
of mentions. Pedro Cruz from Agencia Africa
appears to be a rising star.
Interestingly, there’s no one person we all idolize,
though Russell Davies and Jon Steel come close
with lots of mentions from around the world.
ALL IN TOTAL
When I look at all 1217 responses at once, Jon and
USA
Russell support bolsters and so too does Richard
Huntington. But a couple others begin to pop
By far, Gareth Kay of Modernista! was
including Guy Murphy who is the worldwide
mentioned the most and was the only person to
planning director at JWT based in London as well
reach double digits in the US. And besides Russell
as Emma Cook, president of BBH in London.
and Jon, Colin Drummond at CPB (I must agree
here – you should all want to work with him!),
Faris Yakob at McCann, and Aki Spicer at Fallon
each had a handful of mentions.

UK
Jon Steel and Russell still have this island locked
down, but Richard Huntington from Saatchi and
Saatchi may be next in line for the thrown.

Salary results - USA

532 Americans participated – anyone who didn’t give their salary is excluded in this section

Key to reading salary info
• Salaries are shown as bell curves (ok, bell triangles) – with the mean as well as the 75th
and 25th percentile.
• For example, when you see a number listed under 75%, this is the average of the
upper quarter of the set, the number under 50% is the average for the whole set,
and the number under 25% is the average for the bottom quarter of the set.

• Past years’ averages are in the upper right corner.

• This year I asked people to describe their company as tiny, small, medium or large. Tiny
and Small have been added together except for the CEO/Partner level due to numbers.

• Absolute minimum and maximum salaries are shown next to the “total” curves.

• This year I also asked people if they are unemployed. Their most recent salaries are taken
into consideration in the TOTAL portion for the level, but since they aren’t with a
company right now, they are not included in small, medium or large.

2005 Avg.
2006 Avg.
2007 Avg.
2008 Avg.

$39,580
$39,067
$38,219
$43,036
Asst. Planner results - USA
Years in planning
1.3
1.2
1.5
1.6
Years working
3.5
3.4
2.7
3.3

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=19) (n=18)

$39,852
$46,914
$55,400
$31,000
$41,583
$51,300
Years in planning
1.0
1.4
1.4
Years in planning
1.8
1.7
1.8
Years working
3.8
4.9
4.6
Years working
3.0
2.8
3.2

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small TOTAL
Agency (n=59)
(n=19) Min= $28K
Max = $65K

$32,800
$41,289
$49,900
$33,717
$42,334
$53,333
Years in planning
1.4
1.7
1.8
Years in planning
1.5
1.6
1.7
Years working
3.4
3.6
5.2
Years working
2.7
3.7
4.7

2005 Avg.
2006 Avg.
2007 Avg.
2008 Avg.

$59,145
$60,198
$60,311
$58,476
Planner results - USA
Years in planning
3.2
2.9
2.6
2.6
Years working
5.8
5.5
4.9
5.3

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=32) (n=37)

$47,250
$64,500
$80,625
$43,983
$60,899
$83,167
Years in planning
2.1
3.1
3.6
Years in planning
2.6
3.3
3.7
Years working
4.5
5.6
8.4
Years working
3.4
5.2
6.8

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small TOTAL
Agency (n=118)
(n=46) Min= $36K
Max = $110K

$43,167
$60,522
$79,792
$44,728
$61,684
$81,100
Years in planning
2.5
2.8
3.5
Years in planning
2.4
3.1
3.7
Years working
3.8
5.4
7.5
Years working
4.0
5.4
7.3

2005 Avg.
2006 Avg.
2007 Avg.
2008 Avg.

$83,926
$94,347
$104,084
$96,590
Senior Planner results - USA
Years in planning
5.3
5.9
6.0
5.9
Years working
9.5
9.9
9.7
9.8

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=53) (n=41)

$71,792
$111,075
$162,615
$70,355
$97,928
$134,270
Years in planning
4.8
5.8
8.2
Years in planning
3.8
5.6
7.7
Years working
8.5
10.0
13.1
Years working
5.2
9.0
11.8

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small TOTAL
Agency (n=153)
(n=54) Min= $54K
Max = $220K

$67,950
$95,936
$135,179
$69,207
$101,154
$147,816
Years in planning
6.0
6.1
6.9
Years in planning
5.0
5.9
7.3
Years working
6.5
10.3
14.5
Years working
7.1
9.8
13.1

2005 Avg.
2006 Avg.
2007 Avg.
2008 Avg.

$122,325
$157,310
$163,382
$168,879
Group Planning Director results - USA
Years in planning
8.6
9.9
9.7
9.2
Years working
12.0
13.7
14.2
14.7

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=47) (n=20)

$109,917
$177,832
$250,833
$105,800
$170,200
$246,000
Years in planning
8.3
10.3
12.7
Years in planning
8.0
9.7
9.2
Years working
12.2
15.1
18.8
Years working
13.0
15.2
16.6

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small TOTAL
Agency (n=101)
(n=32) Min= $50K
Max = $280K

$99,875
$148,344
$195,000
$104,720
$166,546
$237,040
Years in planning
6.9
9.4
11.5
Years in planning
7.7
9.8
12.1
Years working
13.6
13.8
14.6
Years working
13.0
14.5
16.8

2005 Avg.
2006 Avg.
2007 Avg.
2008 Avg.

$159,091
$172,188
$167,421
$181,159
Head of Planning results - USA
Years in planning
9.6
11.1
9.3
10.3
Years working
14.0
15.3
15.8
15.9

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=17) (n=13)

$128,375
$223,676
$293,750
$126,000
$211,000
$336,667
Years in planning
8.0
10.5
13.3
Years in planning
5.7
10.7
17
Years working
11.3
16.2
18.0
Years working
13.3
17.3
22.3

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small TOTAL
Agency (n=66)
(n=34) Min= $83.5K
Max = $400K

$100,556
$172,912
$274,444
$109,735
$197,643
$287,000
Years in planning
8.9
11.1
13.4
Years in planning
8.8
11.0
14.3
Years working
14.1
17.2
18.4
Years working
14.9
17.2
19.7

First year we’ve had enough
CEO/President results - USA
respondents at this level

TOTAL – All in small and 25%
50%
75%
tiny companies
(n=16)
Min= $79K
Max = $1.2million

$102,250
$260,063
$522,500
Years in planning
9.3
13.1
13.3
Years working
14.0
20.6
20.0

General salary thoughts - USA

• Though a few of us have taken pay cuts, overall salaries are steady or
rising. Truman Bewely said in his book Why Wages Don’t Fall in a
Recession that the savings from cuts rarely outweighs the dent in
workers’ morale. Here’s hoping.

• This is the ﬁrst year that a group hasn’t grown in number of
respondents – number of Planner level respondents fell from 130 to 118.
Does that mean there are less out there?

Salary results - International

• We had 685 completed surveys from the rest of the world – for the ﬁrst time
surpassing the US total where the survey (and I) started

• There was a huge increase from Brazil (up from 38 people last year) with strong
increases from Germany and Spain.

Argentina 16 Dom. Rep. 1 Malaysia 5 Spain 57
Australia 8 Ecuador 1 Mexico 28 Sweden 7
Belgium 6 France 16 Netherlands 19 Switzerland 2
Brazil 220 Finland 1 New Zealand 1 Thailand 1
Bulgaria 1 Germany 64 Norway 3 UAE 2
Canada 15 India 19 Peru 1 UK 104
Chile 1 Indonesia 1 Philippines 3 Venezuela 1
China 7 Israel 1 Portugal 7 LatAm 1
Columbia 7 Italy 13 Romania 14 Asia 5
Croatia 1 Japan 2 Russia 1 Middle East 3
Denmark 2 Latvia 1 Singapore 9 Did not specify 5

Salary results - International
To use myself as an example, you might be interested to know some of the differences
between the US and my current position in the Netherlands.

First, I’m paid in Euros once per month – generally, in the US we’re paid twice per month.

In May, I’m paid 8% of my annual salary as a vacation bonus (unheard of in the US).

Then in December I’m paid a “13th month” as a guaranteed bonus (also not common in the
US – the most I’ve received is a 3% Christmas bonus there). Separating the payments like
this seems to be a nudge to get you to spend money on holidays/vacations.

As an ex-pat, the Netherlands offers what they call Knowledge Migrants (that’s me!) a 30%
tax ruling that we can apply for. I’ve received this as well as all the ex-pats I know though
it’s not guaranteed. This means I do not pay tax on the first 30% of my income. I figure I
will pay about 30% of my total income in taxes here. My Dutch colleagues pay closer to
40-45%. In the US I was paying just under 20% of my total income in taxes. You begin to
see why we don’t have universal health care in the US and what it might cost to do the job.

Finally, we have approximately 8 bank holidays like Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Easter
Monday, and we receive 25 vacation days. We have to use 4 of those days added to bank
holidays to make 4-day weekends. We chose when to take the other 21 days. In the US, I
typically received 11 bank holidays and 15 vacation days.

Salary results – International cont.
Remember, the key to reading the salary info:
• Salaries are shown as bell curves (ok, bell triangles) – with the mean as well as the 75th
and 25th percentile.
• For example, when you see a number listed under 75%, this is the average of the
upper quarter of the set, the number under 50% is the average for the whole set,
and the number under 25% is the average for the bottom quarter of the set.

• Most of the time, there aren’t enough people to break out by company size. Absolute
minimum and maximum salaries are shown next to the “total” curves.

• For Germany and Spain, I’ve shown some ranges and averages to give us an idea of what
they make, but there aren’t enough yet to break out by company size.

• I also write numbers the “American” way – 1,000.00 is one thousand to me whereas
you’d likely think of it as 1.000,00. Sorry.

Salary results – Brazil
Some challenges with the responses from Brazil:
• razilians really think of their salaries as per month – luckily some noted “per month” – even though
B
I asked for total annual salary, but many I had to guess.

• o help me guess, I found out that the legal minimum wage is R$465 per month, or R$5,580 per year.
T
Several people claiming to be assistant planners said they made very near this amount. I reached out
to a few folks from Brazil who thought these were likely interns saying they are assistant planners or
planners.

• recruiter I spoke with there says many agencies have recently started planning departments and
A
that she’d expect salaries to vary widely, though she guessed these averages based on placements she’s
made:
• Asst: R$2,500 per month (R$30K per year)
• Planner: R$7,000 per month (R$84K per year)
• Senior: R$11,000 per month (R$132K per year)
• GPD: R$18,000 per month (R$216K per year)
• HOP: R$30,000 per month (R$360K per year)

• here are two option in Brazil – become a full-time employee and receives a 13th month like I do in
T
Holland plus 1/3 of their salary as a holiday bonus and 30 days including weekends of vacation
(sweet!) OR it is possible to be hired as a contractor and receive all or none of this. Perhaps some
people didn’t add up everything.

• ased on this information, I arbitrarily labeled 18 people with annual salaries less than R$15,000 per
B
year as interns. Please email me if you are truly a full-time, salaried assistant planner or planner
making in the R$6,000-15,000 per year range and help me understand your situation. I’ll write about
it on the blog.

Intern and Assistant Planner results – Brazil
(remember – this is $R per year)

25%
50%
TOTAL 25%
50%
75%
75%
TOTAL Asst.
Intern Planner
(n=18) (n=33)
Min= R$6K
Min= R$15K
Max = R$14.4K
Max = R$40K

R$6,550
R$10,352
R$13,524
R$16,475
R$23,763
R$33,053
Years in planning
1
1.4
1.8
Years in planning
1.5
1.8
1.8
Years working
2.3
2.9
4.5
Years working
5
4.2
3

I created an intern group because these
salaries seem to be too low

Planner results - Brazil

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=17) (n=10)

R$26,103
R$60,623
R$108,000
R$56,100
Years in planning
3.0
3.2
3.3
Years in planning
4
Years working
3.5
6.2
7.5
Years working
7.5

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small Tiny
Agency Agency
(n=33) (n=13)

R$21,031
R$42,691
R$71,242
R$29,373
R$54,780
R$88,500
Years in planning
1.8
2.4
2.6
Years in planning
2.3
3.6
6.0
Years working
5.5
6.3
7.3
Years working
5.0
8.0
10.0

Planner results – Brazil cont.

25%
50%
75%
TOTAL Note: Here too, I had 2 people say
(n=73) they are a planner level making less
that R$15K – I put these in the intern
Min= R$15K
group. Plus 11 people are making less
Max = R$130K
than R$30K but I le' them in. Are you
really at the planner level?
R$24,247
R$49,500
R$85,339
A few people are paid in US dollars,
Years in planning
1.9
3.0
4.3
Euros or Pounds. I converted these
Years working
4.8
6.7
8.7
amounts based on these exchange
rates:
1 USD = R$1.8
1 Euro = R$2.6
1 Pound = R$3.0

Senior Planner results - Brazil

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Large Medium
Agency Agency
(n=16) (n=9)

R$61,500
R$125,906
R$205,500
R$120,800
Years in planning
2.8
5.3
5.8
Years in planning
5.2
Years working
9.3
10.0
12.0
Years working
10.2

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Small+Tiny TOTAL
Agency (n=48)
(n=23) Min= R$19.2K
Max = R$300K

R$36,628
R$76,994
R$126,983
R$43,439
R$101,512
R$173,833
Years in planning
3.2
4.9
8.3
Years in planning
3
5.1
5.8
Years working
7
11.2
17
Years working
7.3
10.6
12.1

Group Planning Director, Head of Planning, and CEO
results - Brazil
25%
50%
75%
TOTAL 25%
50%
75%
TOTAL Planning
Group Planning Director/Head of
Director Planning
(n=20) (n=22)
Min= R$35K
Min= R$70K
Max = R$300K
Max = R$840K

R$72,860
R$156,880
R$279,660
R$101,454
R$283,427
R$550,131
Years in planning
4.8
6.9
10.0
Years in planning
5.8
7.5
10.3
Years working
7.0
11.1
15.0
Years working
14.7
15.3
17.8

25%
50%
75%
TOTAL Note: I had to make some guesses on
CEO/ whether you told me your monthly
President salary or yearly – hope I guessed right.
(n=5)
Again, I converted a few salaries based
Min= R$120K
on these conversion rates:
Max = R$300K
R$220,000
1 USD = R$1.8
Years in planning
7.0
1 Euro = R$2.6
Years working
13.6
1 Pound = R$3.0

Salary results – UK

OK, UK, it’s your turn.

I did not link back to last year’s numbers because they were so diﬀerent from this year.
Last year I asked everyone to convert to US dollars and I don’t think everyone did. This
year we’re starting fresh and using pounds.

Salary results – UK

Asst. 25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Planner
Planner
(n=25)
(n=9)
Min= £15K
Min= £25K
Max = £33K
Max = £54K

£24,072
£28,383
£36,584
£46,833
Years in planning
1.6
Years in planning
2.2
3.2
3.7
Years working
2.8
Years working
2.3
4.9
8.8

25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
75%
Group
Senior Planning
Planner Director
(n=31) (n=14)
Min= £30K
Min= £60K
Max = £100K
Max = £110K

£39,750
£56,081
£79,750
£71,000
£87,857
£102,375
Years in planning
4.1
5.3
7.0
Years in planning
5.6
9.9
11.3
Years working
7.8
9.5
12.9
Years working
11.3
17.7
22.5

Salary results – UK cont.

25%
50%
75%
Thoughts on the UK:
Head of
Planning
With 101 people providing
(n=20) their salaries across all
Min= £50K
levels, these numbers are
Max = £175K
still pretty directional.
£60,400
£112,425
£165,000
But they do align very
Years in planning
9.2
10.9
11.2
Years working
9.6
14.3
17.8
closely with the US at the
moment with an exchange
rate of $1.66 to £1.
CEO/
President –
too few to
share info
(n=2)

Salary results – Germany

Group
Asst. Planning Head of CEO/
Planner Planner Sr. Planner Director Planning President
(n=20)
(n=18)
(n=13)
(n=1)
(n=10)
(n=1)
Minimum
€24,000
€28,800
€45,000
-
€70,000
-
salary
Maximum
€36,000
€50,000
€80,000
-
€190,000
-
salary
Average
€29,337
€38,324
€61,523
-
€109,122
-
Salary
Avg. years in
1.6
3.3
5.3
-
10.8
-
planning
Avg. years
3.2
5.4
9.4
-
13.2
-
working

Salary results – Spain

Group
Asst. Planning Head of CEO/
Planner Planner Sr. Planner Director Planning President
(n=5)
(n=14)
(n=13)
(n=3)
(n=17)
(n=2)
Minimum
€13,000
€25,600
€30,000
€47,000
€30,000
-
salary
Maximum
€60,000
€40,000
€80,000
€80,000
€160,000
-
salary
Average
€30,400
€31,815
€52,369
€66,333
€81,344
€110,000
Salary
Avg. years in
1.1
2.9
5.2
8.7
8.3
19.5
planning
Avg. years
4.7
6.6
11.2
10
15.1
24.5
working

€13K seems to be too low –
there were 3 salaries under
€25K – are these interns or
part-time? Or does Spain
really pay this poorly?

Bank Holidays and Vacation Comparison (averages)

USA
Brazil
UK
Germany
Spain
Bank
10.1
8.2
7.8
7.1
8.8
holidays
Vacation
15.5
26.2
24.0
25
24.1
days

I think we all knew this, but here it is in black and
white to see. You essentially get two more weeks of life
per year outside of the US. What’s that worth to you?

How do we feel about our jobs? (in percentages)
How much do you like your current job?
How likely are you to change jobs this year?

How much we like our jobs is back in line with Have you changed jobs in the past 12 months?
previous years (“don’t like” was a little higher last
year).
And we’re pretty good at estimating our own turnover.
36% say they’ll likely move this year, compared to
39% last year. And for the ﬁrst time, I’ve asked if we
actually did move. 32% followed through and changed
jobs. I found some stats that say turnover for
Professional and Business Services in the US is around
28% compared to Food Service at 56%. So job-wise
we’re a little sluttier than other white collar jobs, but
not as much as waitresses.
Turnover stats: http://www.nobscot.com/survey/index.cfm

Personal info - USA

Which best describes your ethnicity? (percentages)
Compared with the
US population:

66.0%

5.0%

15.1%

13.5%

This is why diversity recruiting programs in the US are still a good idea.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/011910.html

Demos by title – all (percentages)
It appears that female planners and senior planners aren’t having kids as soon as
their male colleagues
Asst. Planners Planners Sr. Planners
(n=168)
(n=321)
(n=325)
Male
42
46
53

Female
58
54
47

Have kids at home
Male Avg Female Male Avg Female Male Avg Female
1.4
1.8
2
8.7
5.9
3.5
26.2
23.1
19.6
No kids at home
98
94
77

Group Planning Directors Head of Planning CEO
(n=165)
(n=206)
(n=32)
Male
51
74
63

Female
49
26
37

Have kids at home
Male Avg Female Male Avg Female Male Avg Female
35.7
37.6
39.5
52
51.5
50
40
40.6
41.7
No kids at home
62
48
59

Closing thoughts

The survey has gotten too long. Many of you pointed that out in your
suggestions, and I saw your point when it was time to do the analysis!
You’ll see that some analysis isn’t here. I’m going to let it live on in my
blog in the fall and winter. I’ll be posting some additional things there so
stay tuned.

I’ve also decided that it could be better as a team project rather than just
little ol’ me. I’d like to ﬁnd two people who would like to join in this
project. The perks? Well, I know I got my job in Amsterdam because of the
contacts I had made through this survey. I’ve had rich and rewarding
conversations with lots of planners that has furthered my thinking about
what we do. And I guess it keeps my math skills sharp. As I think this has
the most beneﬁt for younger folks, I’m making it a competition. Make a
one minute video why you want to be on the Survey Team, post it on
youtube and send me the link. Due date September 30, 2009.

Closing thoughts

Many of you were cut oﬀ when you ran out of space in the “suggestions
for next year” question. Please come to the blog and discuss. Everyone’s
ideas are welcome. I truly love getting to know more and more people
through the survey. That has been the most rewarding part of doing this
each year. So please contact me:

http://illchangeyourlife.wordpress.com Follow me on Twitter: hklefevre
And I’m happy to pass along notes
hklefevre@gmail.com
between contacts on LinkedIn, so
please connect with me

Finally, many thanks to my quality control team: Ana Luiza Santos,
Alex Wipperfürth, Alexandre Galliotto, Cameron Maddux, Cathy Molenda,
Daniel De Tomazo, Davi Cosso, Franziska Luh, and Gareth Kay.

Planner Survey Results 2009

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Planner Survey Results 2009