The Society

Industrial Pharmacists Group

Salary Survey 2000

Figure 1. Gender ratios of industrial pharmacists by years worked

In February, 2000, an 11th survey was carried out among the members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Industrial Pharmacists Group. A questionnaire was mailed to all group members in the United Kingdom who had indicated on the annual retention fee documentation that they were practising as industrial pharmacists. Of the 2,055 forms sent out, 848 (41 per cent) were satisfactorily completed and used in the analysis. In the previous survey, carried out in October 1997, 755 forms (51 per cent of those mailed) had been analysed.

Group members were asked to provide a variety of information, including details of age, gender, area of activity, level of responsibility, gross annual income and benefits. A summary of the main findings of the survey is given below. Further information can be obtained from a more detailed report in the December, 2000, issue of Industrial Pharmacist.

Age and gender distribution The age and gender distribution of the industrial pharmacists responding to the questionnaire is shown in Table 1 (part-time workers are included in these figures), and the gender distribution by number of years worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Figure 1.

These data indicate that 60 per cent of current industrial pharmacists are male (compared with 61 per cent in 1997 and 69 per cent in 1993) and 40 per cent are female (39 per cent and 31 per cent in 1997 and 1993, respectively). Female pharmacists make up the majority (54 per cent) of those pharmacists who have worked in the pharmaceutical industry for less than 15 years and males the majority (77 per cent) of those working for more than 15 years.

Salary Details of gross annual income by gender, age, area of activity and level of responsibility for full-time workers are given in Tables 2 to 4. The income figures include bonus payments but do not incorporate any element for fringe benefits. It should be noted that income values are approximations since the salary bands used in the questionnaires covered a salary range of £5,000.

The median annual income for the industrial pharmacists responding was £47,500 (£37,500 in 1997). Income levels increased with increasing age up to approximately 50 years, when a plateau was reached.

The median salary for women (£37,500) was approximately 15 per cent higher than in 1997, while that for men (£52,500) was approximately 11 per cent higher.

As in 1997, the median salary for men was £15,000 higher than for women, the difference probably being accounted for by the difference of eight years in the median age (Table 1) and the greater length of time worked in the pharmaceutical industry by men (see Figure 1). Lower quartile values for age and income for males and females in conjunction with data in Table 3 suggest that salaries in the early years in industry are comparable for men and women.

Pharmacists describing their area of activity as general management or consultancy were on average older and received the highest income. Of the other areas of activity, remuneration appeared higher for the respondents working in drug discovery/research, regulatory affairs and marketing.

Approximately equal numbers of industrial pharmacists responding to the survey described their level of responsibility as professional, management and senior management. As would be expected, both the incomes received and age of respondents increased, as the level of responsibility became greater.

Other information Sixty-four percent of pharmacists responding to the 2000 survey had their Society annual retention fee paid by their employer, 63 per cent obtained free medical insurance, 45 per cent had sole use of a company car and 29 per cent participated in a profit sharing scheme.

Data analysed and report compiled by A. Bone (Lilly) and A. Twitchell (De Montfort university)