At least over in Europe.  That was among the findings in the 2021 Apt Search Salary Survey for eDiscovery professionals.

The 2021 Salary Survey from Apt Search (covered here by and available here on Rob Robinson’s excellent site ComplexDiscovery) represents the most recent reporting of knowledge gained from these systematic interviews and surveys and may be profitable for legal, business, and information technology professionals as they staff and support eDiscovery efforts in Europe.  Here are a few of the findings:

• Respondents: There were 178 respondents for the 2021 Apt Search Salary Survey.
• Approximate average salary across all respondents (this is based on the salary brackets in British Pounds): £87,402.60 (USD equivalent* $123,606.24).  67 percent of respondents are paid less than the average salary.
• Fair Pay?: 55 percent of respondents indicated they were paid fairly, 43 percent of them indicated that they were underpaid and 2 percent indicated that they were overpaid(!).  I’m surprised there are people out there willing to acknowledge in a survey that they think they’re overpaid.
• Average salaries by profession: Project management – £70,754.39 ($100,062.06), 53 percent of PM respondents happy with their salary; Sales – £91,500.00 ($129,400.86), 79 percent of Sales respondents are happy with their salary (gee, you think?); Operations – £72,166.67 ($102,059.33), 50 percent of Operations respondents are happy with their salary.
• Industry experience vs time in current company: 35 percent of respondents have been in the industry 10+ years, but only 4 percent of respondents have been with their current company that long.
• Top 3 Motivations for eDiscovery professionals: Career prospects – 68 percent; Money – 68 percent; Ability to make an impact on a project/within a company – 39 percent.
• Remote working: Only 26 percent of respondent listed remote work as a motivator for applying for a role, seemingly implying that it’s a normal expected benefit at this point.

*Based on a conversation rate of 1.41 US Dollars to British Pounds.

Rob covers more findings from the 2021 Salary Survey from Apt Search here and has a link to the report here, which has lots more findings still. Rob also just launched the Summer 2021 eDiscovery Pricing Survey here, so check that out as well!

So, what do you think?  What do you think of the 2021 Salary Survey from Apt Search?  And please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.