August: News from Ingenjören in English

These are the differences in salaries between women and men

The salaries of male and female engineers are far from equal. In 2024, the average salary of engineers was SEK 57,700 for women and SEK 63,900 for men, according to the latest salary statistics from Engineers of Sweden.

Even when the statistics are cleared of factors that can explain the differences – such as age, position, education, sector, part-time work and where in the country you live – there is an unexplained salary gap between women and men of 4.2 percent. 

That women earn less than men is a consistent pattern regardless of which sector or industry you look at. There is also a salary gap among managers, 11 percent for civil engineers and 9 percent for engineers with a degree in engineering.

Changing jobs is usually considered an effective way to increase your salary. Statistics show that both men and women who changed jobs received an average salary increase of 11 percent. The salary increases for those who did not change jobs were 6 percent for men and 5 percent for women. 

But if you look closely at the figures, the variations are large. Younger people get higher salary increases than older people when they change jobs, and in most cases, men earn more from changing jobs than women. 

– Women clearly do not get the same return from changing jobs. This indicates that there are still injustices built into the system, that old norms are still alive, says Ulrika Lindstrand, chair of Engineers of Sweden.

Read the entire article in in Swedish: Ingenjörslöner: Så stora är skillnaderna mellan kvinnor och män

The full report (in Swedish) Rön om lön och kön 2025

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Large differences in gender distribution at consulting companies

Only 7 out of 53 technology and IT consulting companies have an even gender distribution – which means that at least 40 percent of the employees are women or men. This is shown by a new review of 53 technology and IT consulting companies conducted by the skills management platform Cinode.

Of the larger consulting companies, Tyréns has the most even gender distribution – 43 percent of the employees are women. But several large companies are close to 40 percent, including WSP, Norconsult, Ramboll and Exsitec. 

The most female-dominated company is Complyit, technology consultants in life science, with 74 percent women. The most male-dominated are Apper systems, Proact and Prevas (17–19 percent women).

Compared to 2021, when Ingenjören last wrote about Cinode’s gender equality report, the proportion of women has increased in 31 companies and decreased in 5. 

When it comes to boards, the difference is also large between the companies. 5 companies have no women on the board at all. 19 have an even gender distribution. Of the larger ones, four have exactly 50–50: Ramboll, Afry, Knowit and Sogeti. 

Among the larger ones with a low proportion of women on the board are TietoEvry and Rejlers. At the other end, with a clear female dominance on the board, is Tyréns with 78 percent women.

Britta Hedman is the chair of Engineers of Sweden at Tyréns. She has worked for 30 years in civil engineering and is used to women being in the minority. But at Tyréns, things are different today.

– Sometimes there are only 1–2 men in these contexts internally. But in a customer context, I can still be the only, or one of few women.

Britta Hedman says that the gender distribution varies between different technical areas and departments at Tyréns. When it comes to environmental issues, there are more women, but among designers and in planning there are more men. 

Does gender distribution matter?

– Yes, I think so. The fact that it is so even means that it is largely a non-issue in our projects. That’s nice.

Tyréns’ HR manager Minna Hallin says that the company has worked consciously to achieve an even gender distribution. Diversity provides more perspectives and it results in better deliveries to customers and better profitability. Minna Hallin also points to the world situation, that the president of the USA prohibits work for equality and inclusion for example.

– In these times it is important that we confirm that diversity continues to be important – for us as a society and for us at Tyréns.

See the results for all 53 companies, and read the entire article in in Swedish: Stor skillnad i könsfördelning på konsultbolagen

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These are the countries with the best work-life balance

For the third year in a row, Remote has ranked the countries in the world with the best (and worst) conditions for a good work-life balance . And for the third year in a row, New Zealand is in the top with a total score of 86.87 out of 100.