2025 ChemE Compensation Survey

Please complete all fields. If you have any questions for me, please call me at (630) 474-9643 x 2 or email me at adam@sunrecruiting.com. The actual questionnaire is going to look a lot longer this year, but in actuality, I only added a few new questions. I separated out some of the questions to aide me in how the data is compiled, which should save me quite a bit of time. I truly appreciate you taking the time to include your information in this survey. I have included some rationale for why I am asking for the information and also specifics instructions, on some of the questions, about how to answer the question. Please read that carefully.

The Basics

I don't collect this information for any other reason than a) making doubly-sure I don't have duplicates and b) making sure that everyone who contributes their data gets a copy of the completed report. If you have concerns about your privacy, please send me an email with your answers to the questions. My contact information is above.
Your name will not be tied to any data, but I need to make sure I don't have duplicates.
Please provide the email address you would like me to email the completed compensation report to.
**Please provide the City and State information - we DO NOT need Street Address data (just put a dash or asterisk in the street line). We collect this data in order to break down salary target by region of the country.

About You

These questions are related to your current job role, and your current compensation.
Do not include academic experience or Co-op/Internship experience, just the number of years you've been working in the industry since you started working. If you are currently a student, put "0".
I hesitated to put this in because company titles can be so specific to the company. If you could help me, standardize your title. In other words, capture the essence of the job you do.
This is self-explanatory, but this question is getting at whether you manage people or not. If you don't have any direct reports, even if your title has 'manager' in it, select "Individual Contributor".
I changed this question a little from last year, into multiple choice rather than a specific number. I think this will be more valuable information.
Don't overthink it - the question here is "what's a normal work-week for you in terms of hours?"
I need this information in order to compare compensation between degree levels.
Base comp, or base pay rate (if hourly), independent of bonuses, etc.
What is your yearly bonus target expressed as a percentage of your base salary? I'm **not** asking what it paid out as, but rather what the target is. If you don't receive a bonus as part of your compensation, please put '0'.
Please express answer in Days and not Hours of vacation (to get Days, take the number of hours you get and divide by 8). How many days of vacation do you receive per year, not including company-observed holidays? If your company has an 'unlimited vacation' policy, please tell me how many vacation days you take per year, on average.
Thank you to whoever suggested I be more specific about what I'm looking for! I want this number as a percentage of your salary. For example, if your company matches $1-for-$1 on 3% and $0.50-for-$1 on the next 2%, the company match is 4% of your base salary.
I'm not sure if I will incorporate the answer to this question into my analysis, but some of the feedback I received suggested asking this question. It might be interesting to see average tenure differences between industries or something like that. Please answer in either whole numbers (i.e. 4, 5, 6) or half numbers (i.e. '6.5').

Certifications

I want to at least start examining the differences in comp between those who have these certifications and those who don't. If you have a certification other than the three listed here (like CSP, CMRP, etc) please don't take offense, I'll add more in future years if it turns out there is something here.
Professional Engineer (PE) License
Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification
If you have done the training, but are not certified, please check 'No'.

Company Perks

This section is about the types of non-base compensation and/or programming your company offers. Please answer each question "yes" or "no" about your current employer. If there is something you want me to know about that your company provides, please tell me in the "Anything else" question at the bottom of this survey.
Different than a pension program and usually separate from a bonus (STI) program as well.
Typically these are offered at higher-level roles and have a vesting period.
ESOP stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan. An ESOP is a retirement plan that invests primarily in company stock and holds its assets in a trust for employees.
Different than a stock purchase program - this would be stock shares (restricted or non-restricted) given to you either as part of a bonus program or as part of your regular compensation. Startup companies, especially earlier stage startup companies often offer stock options as part of a new-hire comp package.
This is typically something publicly-traded companies offer - a plan where current employees can purchase company stock at a (usually) discounted price. Not the same as an ESOP.
This question isn't about you necessarily - more generally, is this something your company offers to new-hires, currently?
Again, I mean this generally - whether you've taken advantage of it personally, is continuing/higher education reimbursement something your company offers?
Can you buy additional vacation days?
If 'yes' please let me know in the "Anything Else" question at the end, how much leave they offer.

Schedule

For this question - WFH (work from home) means you work out of your home exclusively. 'Hybrid' is 3 days in, 2 days out, or anything like that. Any variation of a 9/80 or 4/10 schedule would be option one. Flexible working hours is where you have the ability to do your work from home sometimes, but it's not a hybrid work-schedule policy. Please choose one from this list.
This question isn't about the particular facility/office you work at, but about your employer overall. One question I've gotten asked a few times is if there is any difference in pay between small versus medium versus large companies.
These categories aren't perfect; please choose the one that best describes the main products/services of your current or most recent employer. I added a number of them this year based on feedback from last year's survey.
If I am missing something or you have a suggestion for something else I can ask about - please give me that feedback here. I have received and incorporated some of the immensely helpful feedback I've gotten from this section, so thank you for those of you who have taken the time to provide it.
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