Tech, consultancies again emerge as America's top paying companies
What's the story
Tech companies and consultancies have once again emerged as employers offering highest median salaries in the US.
Consulting firms AT Kearney and Strategy& were ranked first and second by offering median total compensation of $175,000 and $172,000, respectively, according to Glassdoor's annual survey.
Tech companies VMware ($167,050), Splunk ($161,010) and Cadence Design Systems ($156,702) are ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Top ranked
Google ranked 6th, Facebook - 7th
Google and Facebook were at the sixth and seventh place offering median total salaries of $155,250 and $155,000 respectively.
Consulting firm McKinsey & Company and tech companies NVIDIA, Amazon Labs126, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Salesforce and Dimension Data are other companies offering compensation ranging from $150,000 onwards.
Microsoft ($144,000) is ranked 19th while Twitter ($142,000) is at 22nd position.
Glassdoor explains
Why consulting, tech companies are America's top salary payers
Finance companies pay well. Yet, Visa Inc ($142,000) is the only finance company among America's 25 highest salary payers.
While finance firms require highly qualified workers with niche skill-sets, consulting firms require much more, i.e. "personal contacts, reputations and specialized skills and knowledge."
The tech industry is facing an "ongoing shortage of highly skilled workers" causing a "war for talent," justifying higher salaries.
Work-life balance
Do high salaries translate to overall job satisfaction?
Just because a company pays high-salary, doesn't mean you'll like your job.
Employees of Strategy& (ranked second in terms of highest salaries) have given the firm average reviews on Glassdoor.
A common complaint by employees of high paying firms is companies must do more to ensure work-life balance.
Yet, there are companies like Facebook, McKinsey and LinkedIn which are highly rated for employee satisfaction.