Posting gains: CONTROL's 2006 Salary Survey

FIGURE 5: ECONOMIC FACTORS

Meanwhile, those identifying job security as important for job satisfaction have dropped to 6.6% in 2006 from 9.8% in 2005. In addition, three-percentage points more respondents (57.1%) report they aren’t worried about job security this year (See Figure 6 below).

FIGURE 6: JOB SATISFACTION AND SECURITY

In fact, the increasingly hot market for process control engineers undoubtedly has some thinking that instead of waiting for a pay hike, they may “layoff” their employer, and get a better job altogether, despite the stresses involved.

“Many engineers probably think they’re being underpaid by $15,000 per year, and that they could earn $30,000 extra by going to work for a systems integrator,” says Del Ackels, controls specialist at Frito Lay North America in Vancouver, Wash. “However, they come to realize that they’d have to travel six months out of the year and deal with all the pressure of doing more startups, and suddenly they come back to the thought that they’ve got it pretty good. For example, I’m stretched pretty thin, but it’s been that way since I began working as an engineer 32 years ago.”

Choice Comments

SOME RESPONDENTS to the 2006 Salary Survey added highly enlightening comments to their usual multiple-choice answers. Several of the most interesting included:

• "The past two-plus years at our office have been brutal. A lot of people were laid off and many more were temporarily assigned to other offices for six to 18 months. Things are finally looking up, and we expect the next two-plus years to be good.” — control systems engineer at California technical services provider
• "The engineering profession isn’t one I’d recommend to a young person now. The level pay provides a decent income, but it isn’t up to the effort required to get the degree and/or maintain the job. The turnover of executive leadership from engineering/manufacturing-based to financial-based has sapped most of the fun out of working in manufacturing in this country.” — senior engineer at South Carolina paper manufacturer
• “The majority of our engineering and technical staff are between 40 and 60 years old. I don’t see any young people in the workforce.” — control engineering assistant at Texas electrical cooperative
• “We’re running into issues with senior engineering personnel retiring. Much of their expertise hasn’t been transferred to others in the group. We’re dedicating resources to this area.” — process engineering supervisor at Arizona petrochemical producer
• “Too many functions for everyone, and not enough time for core job responsibilities. I don’t appreciate the trend away from people to automating everything.” — senior instrumentation technician at Illinois oil and gas research facility
• “Overall employee attitude is horrible in these days when profit is the true #1 objective, while upper management says safety and quality are #1.  Communication and honesty from upper management is non-existent. Tell us the truth and the “whys” of some of the odd decisions being made. This is not the Land of Oz, so come out from behind the curtain. We can handle the truth and maybe even help resolve some issues.” — senior process engineer at Wisconsin paper manufacturer
• “Our parent company is limiting equipment maintenance based on available dollars. This creates added maintenance for field operations because equipment that should be overhauled is being held together with bandages. Trying to explain these issues to directors is difficult because many don’t understand operations or the impact of their decisions.” — senior engineer at Texas natural gas producer
• “Outsourcing is used to to bridge the gap when we need another engineer, but just temporarily.” — senior electrical designer at California engineering design firm