Digital Design in ecommerce: 2020 employee insights

How do digital design professionals feel about the ecommerce industry this year? Every year, using our 2020 ecommerce salary survey & insights report, we delve into the thoughts of our respondents across multiple specialisms. 

It helps us get an idea each year as to how people are feeling about their current role and if more can be done to increase employee happiness. Today, we're going to start with the digital design specialism!

What is the average happiness score of designers in the industry? Are they doing more overtime than other specialisms? It's time to get some answers!

You can also explore our 2020 digital design salary update for more design insights from the ecommerce world!

Digital Designers: Happiness in current role

For the first time in our salary survey questionnaire, we asked our respondents to rank their current role happiness on a scale of 1 to 100. What did digital designers have to say?

The overall average, as seen in our report, was 65/100. When looking at digital design respondents only, the score is 67. Not a huge difference here...do you think this number should be higher? Let's have a look at some factors that may explain this score.

Work-life balance for digital designers

Are digital designers happy with their current balance between work and play? Do they feel their work-life balance is prioritised by senior management? Here's what our design respondents had to say...

64% of digital designers are happy with their work-life balance, while 18% are unhappy. The remaining 18% are not quite sure on their feelings towards this subject.

Looking a little deeper, we wanted to see if they felt their company as a whole prioritised the work-life balance of its employees. Once again, the majority of 64% said yes - however, it's interesting to note that some of these respondents answered no to the previous question. So, it seems some people believe that work-life balance is their problem to solve. 37% of design respondents believed their company does not prioritise work-life balance.

Finally, we asked respondents if they felt their direct manager could do more to encourage a better work-life balance in their team...62% said yes. 27% thought their manager was doing enough, while the remaining 11% told us they were a manager, company leader or owner.

Overtime for digital designers

Are digital designers doing more than their contracted hours? It's important to see how much overtime is being done, as it often correlates with the sentiments of happiness and work-life balance seen above.

• None: 15% (23% in 2019)
• A few minutes: 23% (20% in 2019)
• Half an hour: 6% (9% in 2019)
• 1 hour: 20% (11% in 2019)
• 2 – 3 hours: 19% (25% in 2019)
• 3 – 5 hours: 14% (6% in 2019)
• Other: 3% (other answers include ‘nothing is overtime' and 'purely dependent on that week or the time of year'.)

There are quite a few changes from 2019. A significant number last year shared that they did no overtime at all...this has dropped considerably. Furthermore, those doing 3 - 5 hours of overtime has also significantly increased. Overall, over 50% of our digital design respondents are doing one hour of overtime or more a week. Does this explain why there isn't a higher number of people who are happy with their work-life balance?

Need some guidance in your digital design career?

We hope these insights help you reflect on your career! Why not explore the upcoming digital design jobs we'll be working on? Get in touch with the team if you'd like to discuss your current situation or job search. You can also download the full 2020 ecommerce salary survey report below!