Have salaries in the Croatian IT sector increased in the last three months?

The answer to the question about salary growth in the IT sector comes from TABU, a Croatian platform that has collected the largest salary sample in our IT market since March of this year – over 19,000, and they have now shared the trend of growth or decline in average salaries compared to three months earlier.

Average net salary increased by 272 HRK per month

For this analysis, TABU compared the average salaries entered in the first three months since the platform’s inception, from the end of March to the end of June, with the average salaries in the period from the beginning of July to the end of September. Comparing the general average in IT, that is, data for all positions, seniorities, and departments, with the average from three months earlier, an increase of 2.2 percent was recorded — while previously the average monthly net salary in Croatian IT was 12,602 HRK, it now amounts to 12,873 HRK, which is an increase of 272 HRK per month.

The average growth may not seem significant, but if we delve deeper into the analysis for specific positions and departments, we see that in some there has been a much more concrete increase, while in certain departments there has been a decline in average salary.

The largest growth among (co)founders and C-level executives

TABU has 13 categories, most of which are established departments in companies such as Finance, Sales, or Human Resources, and there are also special categories such as Founder or Co-founder of a company and Team or Department Leader. The largest increase in average salary in the last three months was recorded in the category of Founder or Co-founder of a company — from the previous 14,905 HRK, the average salary rose to 16,879 HRK, which is an increase of 11.9 percent or 1,774 HRK.

The second largest salary increase was recorded in the C-level category, which consists of the highest executives in Croatian IT companies. Their average salary increased from 21,925 HRK to 23,530 HRK, which is an increase of 1,605 HRK or 7.3 percent.

The third highest salary growth is in the PM/PO/BA/Consultant/Agile category, which includes not only Product or Project Managers, Product Owners, and Business Analysts, but also frequently functions such as Scrum Master, Quality Assurance, Kanban Agile Coach, and others. Their average salary in the last three months amounts to 13,492 HRK, while it previously amounted to 12,745 HRK, which is an increase of 747 HRK or 5.9 percent.

The largest decline in salaries in Marketing and Design departments

Despite the average salary growth in IT and the increase in the aforementioned categories, not everyone in IT has seen their salaries rise. Moreover, TABU’s analysis showed that in some departments, average salaries are lower than they were three months ago. The largest decline in average salary in Croatian IT companies occurred in the Marketing departments: from 10,008 HRK, the average salary of marketers fell to 9,526 HRK, which is a decrease of 428 HRK or 4.8 percent. Following is the Design department, where the average salary was 11,325 HRK, and now it is 11,008 HRK, which is 2.8 percent or 317 HRK less.

Among those recording a decline in average salary, the next category is BI/Data/Database, where the average salary fell by 104 HRK or 0.8 percent — from 12,399 HRK to 12,295 HRK, followed by the Human Resources department, where the average salary three months ago was 10,599 HRK, and now it is 10,541 HRK, which is 57 HRK or 0.5 percent less.

We have highlighted the ‘winners and losers’ of this analysis – the departments with the highest growth and the largest decline in salaries, and a complete overview of trends for all categories can be seen in the following graph.

—

Comparison of average salaries by departments

photo

—

New trend report available to TABU users

A new report is also available to TABU users — anyone who has entered or updated their entry in the last three months can see a comparison of their salary with the average or median salaries of their colleagues in the last three months and a comparison with the average older than three months. The new report is located in the navigation at the top of the personalized user results page – under the name ‘Quarterly Update’.

The publication of new analyses for users like this, as well as all other business aspects of the platform, is overseen by TABU Product Lead, Vatroslav Mileusnić, who reflected on the development progress of the platform so far.

Support for both private and business users

– When we launched TABU, we wanted to enable everyone in IT to compare their salary and check if it is competitive, while allowing employers to monitor competitiveness in the market. A little over half a year after the launch, TABU has proven to be a tool that is very much needed in the market – says Mileusnić.

– Several facts support this: the constant growth of new users, as well as the return of existing users to the platform, who update changes that may have occurred in the three-month period. Also, TABU has started to be used by the first business users, companies that, based on insights into aggregated and anonymized TABU data on average salaries by departments, seniorities, and positions, want to provide their employees with the salary they deserve, aligned with the market situation – emphasizes the head of TABU.