Amazon beats Google, Apple and Microsoft on salary packages to junior employees in the UK

Amazon has emerged as the highest paying tech firm for junior employees in the UK, according to research by Emolument.com, a crowdsourced salary comparison website headquartered in London. At the entry level, an Amazon recruit could receive a total annual remuneration package of £90,000 (€114,838, $131,501), of which £75,000 would be in salary while the remaining would be the bonus component.

Apple came in second where the package for a similar position was found to be £83,000 of which £72,000 was in salary and the remaining £11,000 was bonus. Google stood third. Its remuneration offerings for junior employees were revealed to be £59,000 in salary and £14,000 in bonus.

Other companies in the top 10 list of tech firms providing high salaries to junior employees include, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, Telefonica, Orange, SAP and IBM.

Alice Leguay, co-founder and chief operating officer at Emolument.com, said that potential employees were already attracted to the top tech firms because of their playful offices and "glamorous brands". He added that they were now beating the financial industry on junior pay, indicating it would make them more attractive.

"Working for a top investment bank no longer epitomises the graduate dream, especially since financial industry remuneration has taken a bashing in the last few years, in line with bankers' reputations," she added.

"Banks are trying to shake up their corporate cultures and offer more flexibility and work-life balance but cannot compete with technology giants making their staff feel they are making a social mark on their time," Leguay said.

As for senior employees, Microsoft topped the list of highest paying tech firm. An average remuneration package of a senior Microsoft employee stood at £101,000, according to the research. Apple and Google stood second and third, whose average pay to its senior staff stood at a total of £97,000 and £92,000, respectively.

The global salary data of about 650 entry level employees with 0 to 3 years work experience and more than 500 senior employees with 10 to 30 years of experience were analysed by Emolument.com before coming to a conclusion.