Swiss SAP expertise most lucrative in Europe, finds report

A new report has found that Swiss IT workers are highest paid, with AI adoption happening at pace, and a continued preference for remote and hybrid working.

Despite many companies mandating a return to the office, most IT workers in Europe continue to work remotely. That’s according to the European Transparent Job Market Report by jobs site publisher SwissDevJobs.

The report, which surveyed thousands of IT professionals across Europe, found that 93% of employees can work remotely at least one day a week, with 45% able to work fully remotely.

The study found that IT workers place a high value on being able to work in this way. More than 80% of respondents favoured optional hybrid or fully remote setups, while only 3% wanted to be in the office full time.

There are negative aspects to working from home, namely difficulty unplugging after work, feelings of loneliness and distractions at home. But most reported being more productive in this setting, primarily because of saved commuting time.

AI at work

Another big change for IT workers is the advent of AI powered tools, particularly for coding.

Most respondents viewed these tools as useful and are keen adopters, but they only trust them to a limited extent, with the majority opting to double-check their output. Only 3% said they “fully trust” code generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT or Copilot.

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Source: European Transparent Job Market Report 2024

While 18% felt their job might be threatened by AI in the coming five years, 82% thought this was unlikely.

Swiss top salary scale

IT workers in Switzerland command the highest salaries in Europe, the downside being that the country has among the highest living costs.

The median gross IT industry salary in 2024 was CHF105,000 (£94,000), with SAP, security and data jobs being the best paid.

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Source: European Transparent Job Market Report 2024

In the UK, the median gross annual salary for an IT position is £57,500 (placed second after Switzerland), with programming jobs commanding the highest wages, particularly Golang (£79,700), Python (£71,300) and Java (£69,300) on average. In contrast to Switzerland, SAP skills came some way down the list, with average salaries coming in at £55,000.

In terms of location, the best paying IT jobs in the UK, on average, are found in London, Belfast and Cambridge.