Facts of Life About Salary and Compensation
Supply and Demand
One of the biggest influences on salary is supply and demand. When there is a great deal of something available, it is less expensive than when it is rare. For example, Africans who live near the diamond fields may trade a six-point gem for a loaf of bread.

The more specialized your skill set, the more "rare" a diamond you are. The more your experience includes support for a senior management team, the more polished your gem! The fewer of you there are and the more specialized your experience, the higher the compensation you can demand.
Combat Pay
When soldiers go to war, extra pay is awarded due to the "hazardous duty" required. All compensation is impacted by the influence of "combat pay".

The window washers who clean high rise building windows in our cities make three times the pay of their small town country cousins. A member of the police force of New York City makes far more than Fred, the school crossing policeman in the small town where I grew up.

The Chief Executive Support person for a demanding, non-appreciative, loud and sometimes verbally abusive boss, always makes more than someone who assists a caring, sensitive, empowering and appreciative boss in the same geographic area. And, of course, there is everything in between.
Meaning and Passion
Most of us work for free when something matters deeply to us. We raise children, we do volunteer work, enjoy hobbies and gain emotional and psychic rewards.

People's desire for "meaning" in their lives impacts compensation. A non-profit, for which I recently recruited a Director, attracted a woman to the position who could have commanded at least $20,000 more a year in a "for profit" business.

The candidate's deep passion for, and commitment to, education created psychic and emotional pay backs which, in her mind, more than compensated for the financial disparity.
Geographic Variations
The cost of living associated with different geographic locations obviously impacts compensation.

Recently,recruited a top level CES person from the Dallas/Fort Worth, area. Our candidate was making $55,000/year, which is a top salary in the Texas geographic area. Linda desperately wanted to relocate to the Bay Area where she had many relatives, including her mother

She appeared to have researched the cost of living differentials and indicated she would accept a $70,000/year offer in the San Francisco Bay Area. After being offered the position, the reality of lifestyle change set in. With the addition of state taxes, the increased cost of housing, and the need to accept a smaller apartment and pay for furniture storage (or selling beautiful furniture she had spent years accumulating) the move became daunting.

In the final analysis, even the strong emotional pull of family, a client willing to help with relocation and even proximity to the ocean (a big lure), could not offset the many perceived sacrifices a relocation would require.

How many people with similar skill sets and experience are drawn to a geographic area by its attractiveness, impacts compensation dramatically. If you are the only plumber in town, you have a very different compensation scale than if there are four of you in the same area. If you decide to relocate to New York City, your hourly pay may be higher, but everything else will scale up too, including the number of competing plumbers and the cost of living!
Compensation Information for Senior Level EAs in Silicon Valley
In our experience, the average salary for top-level executive assistants in the Silicon Valley area in 1999 was $70,000, base compensation.

In addition, many companies offered bonuses, which were generally associated with the success of the company and the revenues generated. Bonuses ranged from nothing to much more. $35,000 was not unheard of, but averages were about $4,500 for a top executive assistant, per year.
The following were averages for other company benefits, in our experience:
401k match:
About 50% of companies provided 401k, with some matching a percentage.
Life insurance:
Most companies provided life insurance, with up to 3 times annual salary.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP):
About 35% of companies we queried provided discounted stock to employees - 15% discount is typical.
Cell phones:
Most companies provided cell phones for their top executive assistants.
Home computer:
About 75% provided a desktop or laptop home computer for their top EA.
Business Travel:
About 20% required travel for their top EA.
Experience:
In our survey, the average was 7 years, working at a CEO or President level, for this base salary, with many prior years working as an administrative assistant at a lower level to gain experience.
College:
Most of our top-level executive assistants have some college. More than 80% do, but only about 45% finished college with a bachelor's degree.
Just a note:
We're finding more and more of our clients preferring that candidates have a college degree, or at least some college. Education is becoming an important part of being a top EA.
 
 
Leni Miller, President
EA Search, LLC
Palo Alto, San Francisco, Portland
415-331-0269  leni@easearch.com
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