Low employee costs maintain the UK attraction for companies looking to take on digital professionals, according to new research conducted by leading professional services company, Willis Towers Watson. 

The General Industry Compensation Survey Report – which includes actual and target amounts paid for all employee salaries, allowances and bonuses – shows that UK-based digital professionals’ employee costs are some of the lowest in Europe with only Ireland, Spain and Turkey being lower.

For digital professionals working in IT the average employer’s annual base salary cost per employee is £52,000 considerably less than the equivalent for Switzerland (£87,000), France (£67,000) and Germany (£59,000). A similar trend is seen among digital marketing professionals where the average annual base salary cost to the employer in the UK is £47,000, considerably less than the equivalent for Switzerland (£82,000), France (£56,000) and Germany (£50,000).

Hugues Munaut, Senior Consultant at Willis Towers Watson, said: “Our research shows how attractive the UK is for those companies employing digital professionals. Given it has some of the lowest statutory employer costs in Europe, UK employers can offer higher base salaries and still maintain their competitive edge over European-based companies. This creates favourable cross-border salary comparisons for UK professionals and, in a sector with typically high international mobility, gives companies a very important advantage when winning the best talent.”

These findings point to an increased business advantage for British companies as another complementary report by the World Economic Forum conducted in collaboration with Willis Towers Watson – Shaping the Future Implications of Digital Media for Society study, points to the increasing importance of digital media in changing the way we work. Ravin Jesuthasan, a managing director at Willis Towers Watson and co-author of the WEF study report said: “When, where and how work is getting done has been revolutionized in the last few years. The way we take in information and communicate with our colleagues has changed beyond recognition. British companies are in a great position to attract the right people to implement technologies that facilitate the use of new digital communication, as well as to digitise content allowing it to be received anywhere at any time.”