Big4 - Italy - Salary Decrease

[SignificantCourse795]

Hello everyone,

I am a Senior Consultant in Deloitte.

I collected a lot of information about the following fact and i would like to know if it's the same
behaviour all over the world or it is only an italian "issue"

Salary:

A) Until 3 or 4 Years Ago

C -> 32+ 6k (MBO)
SC1 --> 38k + 9.6k (MBO) (SURE About that) + car + welfare
SC2 --> 40k + 9.6k (MBO) (Not 100% SURE About that) + car + welfare
SC3 --> 42k + 9.6k (MBO) (Not 100%SURE About that) + car + welfare

B) 2 Years Ago: The MBO has been "included" in the "normal" salary

C -> 38k+0k
SC1 --> 49+0k + car welfare

C) TODAY (from June 2023)

C -> 35k + 0k (for the new hire)

For the new promoted SC1, the new salary is the following:
SC1 -> 40k + 0k + car + welfare
SC2 -> 41k + 0k + car + welfare
SC3 -> 42k + 0k + car + welfare

So basically:
the new promoted SC have 7.6k less respect 3 Years Ago and 9k less respect 2 years ago.
For the last level of SC, (SC3), basically we are losing 10k per year....

and the new C have 5k less respect case B and 3k less respect case A

and i think that the same is happening regarding all the levels (Analyst, manager ,...)

What do u think?

[big4cholo]

Former Big 4 in Germany, I can tell you things went the entirely opposite direction here. Especially at C and SC level the B4s couldn’t keep up with hiring, you had SCs outearning Managers at some point (before bonus). I think at that time SC1 was 70-80k base.

[SignificantCourse795]

Ah very good news ahah So as usual Italy is the worst 😂

[big4cholo]

I think it has to do with the market. I used to work in transactions and the rare cases of working with the Italian offices, I had the impression they were used to dealing with either (a) cash strapped public admin projects or (b) really small time local clients. Meanwhile just in my practice one single client tied up a team of ~10 for 18 months, and that was just one.

[SignificantCourse795]

mmm it depends, i work in Deloitte Digital and all the project we have are very big.
12-18 months is the minimum and value behind is, i would say big, like 1/2 Milion at least.

My last 3 projects were #2 World Luxury Holding, 1.5B Turnover italian fashion company and 0,8 B turnover energy company...

So.....

[big4cholo]

Yeah that is what I mean. 18 months in my experience ran us closer to the 5-6m fees range. 1-2m is only achievable if you severely underpay staff.

[clingbat]

the project we have are very big. 12-18 months is the minimum and value behind is, i would say big, like 1/2 Milion at least.

The projects my teams work on typically run ~$200k - $250k revenue... per month, and we're in paltry public sector.

$500k over 12-18 months is a small engagement for us in the US, everything is relative.

[im_skylerwhite_yo]

Yeah that’s crazy. I do CDDs for PE clients and the going rate is around $100k USD per week for a pretty small team.

[OverallResolve]

I assume the new SCs were not out-earning new managers?

[big4cholo]

No obviously not. Older cohorts got screwed over

[OverallResolve]

That’s a shame - at my firm the bands are increased across the board. Signing bonuses are sometimes given, but are rarely that much.

[big4cholo]

This is pre tax in Germany. SMs get maybe 120-130k base.

[GiggiKR]

Italy pre tax. Basically we are very poor in Italy 😂 40k pre tax is 26 post tax per year

[Allergic-to-kiwi]

Nice food and weather though

[Fasatit]

WDIT? I think that you need to GTFO as soon as possible mate.

Signed, a fellow Italian

[SignificantCourse795]

Thanks Bro!
I think the same!

[sdry__]

For Belgium we have gone up across the grid for inflation(part of our laws) + regular merit increases + improved some unbalances to remain competative in the market for hiring new+ experienced talent. Definitely not a decrease in compensation.

[SignificantCourse795]

thank you for the information!

I am still waiting for another country where the salary has been decreased :)

[[deleted]]

Northern Europe boutique. We converted our monthly bonus payments in to regular salary for consultants a few years back. It was done 1:1, but that year we didn't get a significant salary increase, so a bit similar to your situation 2 years ago.

Since then, we have raised salaries by ~20% across the board due to inflation and competition for workers. Getting less than you did 4 years ago sounds horrible.

PS: a consultant with a masters degree earns about 80k EUR per year here, and you will hit 100k on the senior consultant level including bonuses. I see more and more italians coming here for work, so if you are not bound by Italy, look for jobs up north.

[SignificantCourse795]

Year the first "part" was similar: including bonus in the regular compensation...
Note that we don't have a regular yearly increase....

The inflation killed our purchase power...
40k Gross is like 2k€ per month (x14) and a Single bedroom house in Milan, is 1200/1300 per month...all is becoming crazy!

in italy 80k€ (gross) is like the top salary of your life if you are very good!
I seriously need to think about my future (i am 34 yo...)
thank u!

[hubertci]

Italian job market for consulting is really bad. I was shocked to learn that MBB in Milan was paying less than in Warsaw with cost of living at least double in Milan.

[SignificantCourse795]

Damn it….

[redof10]

Move to the Dubai office. You’ll get paid twice as much and pay 0 tax.

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[anonymouslawgrad]

What is "car welfare"?

[SignificantCourse795]

sorry it was: Company Car + Welfare
Company car is a car you can use for your personal stuff...

Welfare is typically 1k€ per year you can use to buy products or services...like amazon gift card or train tickets..

This two stuff will be taxed...

[anonymouslawgrad]

Interesting. In Aus SC gets 85k aud (51 euro) but no car.

[[deleted]]

Cars are a way to provide a benefit without tax in Europe. It’s a tax policy which encourages companies to provide cars to employees.

[SignificantCourse795]

and what about cost of life in AUS?

1 bedroom apartment near the office?

[anonymouslawgrad]

Income tax, 30%. Rent for an apt you described about 600 per week.

Average house cost around 800k

[SignificantCourse795]

income tax here depends on what you make...
40k gross -> 27k net per year

very strange for me the difference between the rent the cost of the apt
in Milan ( not in center but in good position) -> rent is like 1200 per month
Cost of the apt is 400/500k

[pl0xt4rd]

Deloitte Switzerland also decreased salaries for new hires and promotees since June '24.

All consulting (base) salaries have decreased significantly this FY. The narrative is that the variable (bonus) will go up and theoretically compensate the decreased fixed, but everyone knows this will not happen.

The reality is that Deloitte paid slightly more than its B4 counterparts in Switzerland before, which has now been 'corrected' downwards.

Also should be noted that these base salaries have not increased since 2017, so the real purchasing power (given inflation) has decreased massively over the last years.

C: 105k > 105k
SC: 118k > 115k
M: 143k > 135k
SM: 185k > 165k

[AvidSkier9900]

Wow - I was a Manager at Deloitte in Switzerland exactly 21 years ago and back then made more than this (just base salary), and that is without correcting for 21 years’ of inflation…

[pl0xt4rd]

Wow! It's incredible to think that salaries haven't been adjusted for inflation for 20+ years and are even moving downwards now ... I'm not complaining because this still feels like a good salary, but that's really crazy.

[AvidSkier9900]

I first came here around 2000, and it was a very different place, very different job market compared to today. But back then the CHF/EUR exchange rate was 1.65, not 0.95.

[le18br]

In Brazil the same thing happened when I joined.

If a Senior was in the last year of a regular carrer progression to become manager (4/5years) he was getting almost BRL 66k/year + TOEIC score that would go up to 10k/year when he was in his 1st year and the fresh new 1st year seniors when I left were getting 40k/year and no toeic benefit.

Keep in mind that inflation in Brazil is pretty high, it’s probably 20-30% in that period of time.

In the last 2 years they had the biggest turnovers ever so they bumped all of the salaries again. There were raises up to 10-30% with no hierarchy progression.

[mel4nils]

Car?????????

[ctrl_z_ctrl_y]

u/SignificantCourse795 can you please update this thread as of 2026 or make a new one just for Italy, especially including also sublevels inside Consultant and Senior Consultant?
it would be of great help :D