Compensation trends report
Growth, hiring, and compensation trends from over 150,000 compensation datapoints.
An introduction to our first report
2023 has been a turbulent year for European tech.
Startups have had to shift away from ‘growth at all costs’ to a tricky balancing act. They must be agile but also stable, growing yet profitable.
People and reward leaders’ priorities have changed too. Last year they were in the middle of a talent war, now they must help their companies do more with less. But how?
To help, we’ve written our first compensation report.
We’ve analysed over 150,000 compensation datapoints in the Ravio platform, as well as spoken to 100s of people and rewards leaders, to understand what Europe’s top startups are doing in these new conditions.
We explore how people and reward leaders are thinking about growth and hiring going into 2024, establish what fair pay looks like for key tech roles across Europe, and break down what a great employee experience involves across different countries.
The report will provide context for what you’re seeing in the market, help you explain compensation and hiring decisions to others, and inform your compensation, growth, and hiring plans going into 2024.
Keep scrolling to explore insights from the 2024 report ↓
Start ups have cut hiring by 30-50% this year
Last year Europe’s start ups were in the midst of a talent war, with hiring a top priority for many CEOs. But this year it’s a different world. Rising inflation has led to a worldwide reduction in VC funding and an almost-closed IPO window, impacting growth and hiring plans for start ups.
We break down how this is reflected in this year’s hiring rates – such as the particularly large drop in hiring at larger, late-stage (series c+) companies as costs are cut and stability is sought in this difficult economic environment.
Attrition rates have increased for early and growth stage startups
Amidst this difficult time for growth and hiring, it’s more important than ever for start ups to retain top talent. More work may need to be done here, because whilst attrition has remained fairly stable in the past year, there has been a slight increase in attrition at early and growth stage start ups.
In the report we further analyse attrition rates across different job families. We also explore the strategies being implemented by people teams to reduce the risk of attrition – from introducing pay transparency processes to reviewing employee salaries and career progression pathways, and more.
Pay increases are down by almost 50% compared to last year
Last year the typical employee in a European tech start up could expect a very decent 8% annual salary increase (non-promotion), but this year the typical increase is 4.8%. Whilst this is still above average across other industries and company types, it does threaten the attractiveness of employment in a start up – a risk given the high importance of employee retention currently.
The report breaks down salary increases by company stage and country, as well as exploring competitive salaries across roles, and promotion rates and promotion pay increases.
Only 19% of executives in Europe’s start ups are women
With the EU Pay Transparency Directive on its way, addressing the gender pay gap and the representation of women within companies is more important than ever. The gender pay gap reduces as the job level increases. But, the representation of women is incredibly low at these higher job levels.
It’s clear that there’s still much work to be done on gender diversity in Europe’s start ups – and the data highlighted in the report suggests that much of the issue arises at the point of hiring.
The most-offered fringe benefit is private health insurance
Cash compensation is important, but it isn’t everything. Start ups need to have a competitive total compensation package to attract and retain the best talent – and that includes benefits. Across Europe, the most commonly offered fringe benefits include medical care, commuting costs, remote working costs, and professional development.
In the report we also explore different approaches to core benefits like paid time off, pension contributions, sick leave, and more.
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