Bridging the Gender Pay Gap: Empowering Women to Expect Higher Salaries

Urging women to negotiate for higher pay, beyond just matching their male counterparts, could be the key to closing the gender pay gap, according to Tanja Loktionova, founder of a recruitment agency, who presented the findings of the agency's annual salary survey at Devcom. Loktionova highlighted that women not only earn less than men in almost every discipline within the games industry but also have lower salary expectations. She emphasized that the gender pay gap is a persistent issue that needs to be addressed openly. The survey, which gathered responses from 1,832 developers worldwide, mostly from Europe, including non-EU countries like the UK, revealed that 69% of respondents were male, 29% were female, and 2% identified as other. 19% of those surveyed had over ten years of experience in the games industry, with most holding senior, lead, or management roles, including top-level and C-suite executives. 18% of respondents had been affected by layoffs in the past year, with the majority finding new roles, mostly in HR and recruitment. 5% of all respondents had been laid off and were still searching for work. The survey showed that men outearned women in all but two disciplines. Women in HR and recruitment earned an average of €6,000 more than their male colleagues, while women in programming and development earned slightly more than men. The largest pay gap between men and women was in marketing and user acquisition, with men earning an average of €65,400 and women earning an average of €38,000, a 42% difference. Top-level management and C-suite male respondents earned an average of €76,752, while women earned €58,080, a 24% difference. However, when asked about their desired salaries, men led in all but two disciplines, with women's expectations often aligned with men's current average salaries. The most notable example was in top-level management, where men desired an average of €100,000, while women desired €72,000, which is €14,000 more than the current average for women but €4,000 less than the average male leader's salary and €28,000 less than men's expectations. Loktionova suggested that the lack of salary transparency and discussion contributes to this issue, stating that salary negotiations often start with the candidate's expectations. She emphasized the need to raise awareness and encourage women to expect higher salaries. The survey also found that hybrid workers are more satisfied with their employment than remote or on-site workers, and that staff who receive no financial bonuses are more likely to want to change jobs or companies. The least likely to leave their current role are those who receive a mix of benefits, including a percentage of game sales, profit share, paid parenting leave, and/or project bonuses. Looking at senior-level salaries, the average manager earned between €35,000 for QA and testing and €84,000 for top-level and C-suite management. The survey revealed that all but two disciplines saw an increase in average salary compared to the 2023 survey, with HR/recruitment and QA/testing being the exceptions, possibly due to the impact of layoffs.