Which American Workers Have the Biggest Egos?
Well, that's tough to say. But if believing you're the top performer at your company for jobs similar to yours is an indicator of the size of your ego, PayScale can make a pretty good guess. Between June 19, 2014 and June 19, 2016, PayScale surveyed 383,028 U.S. workers to find out which believed they were the top performer at their company, a belief that shows either a high level of professional confidence, an inflated sense of self (read "big ego") ...or both.
What did we learn? Some takeaways we expected, some were surprising, and some were a little concerning.
Check out the infographic below to find out who tops the charts for America's Biggest Ego Workers!
Methodology
Payscale examined which job titles have the biggest egos, comparing differences across education levels, gender, generations, and income.
Workers are asked how much they agree with the following statement:
"I am the top performer at my company for jobs similar to mine."
Response choices were:
- 5 - Strongly Agree
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1 - Strongly Disagree
We classified those who chose "Strongly Agree" as big ego employees, reflecting either a high level of professional confidence, an inflated sense of self, or both.
PayScale analyzed differences in responses by:
- Overall
- Job Titles
- Gender
- Generation
- Pay ranges
- Company size
- Education
We collected data from 383,028 workers between 6/19/2014 and 6/19/2016 to create this report.
Definitions:
Detailed Occupations: Job categories defined by the ONET Breadth 30 Classification: The job grouping one level below the Broad Occupations (ONET 40) as defined by the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) (https://www.onetcenter.org).
Total Cash Compensation (TCC): TCC combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or value of other non-cash benefits (e.g., healthcare).
Median Pay: The median pay is the national median (50th Percentile) annual total cash compensation. Half the people doing the job earn more than the median, while half earn less.
% Big Ego: This is the percentage of respondents who answered "Strongly Agree" to the question "I am the top performer at my company for jobs similar to mine."
