Compliance managers are one of the least happy careers in the United States.

At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, compliance managers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 10% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy compliance managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:

Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers

Career Satisfaction Avg Salary
Legal secretary
2.7
$29k
Account manager
2.7
$67k
Paralegal
2.7
$44k
Securities and commodities broker
2.7
$73k
Financial analyst
2.7
$69k
Compliance manager
2.7
$83k
Financial advisor
2.7
$49k
Cost estimator
2.7
$62k
Revenue agent
2.7
$52k
Investment banker
2.7
$79k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are compliance managers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do compliance managers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as compliance managers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are compliance manager’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are compliance managers making the best use of their abilities?

Are compliance managers happy with their salary?

Compliance managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most compliance managers having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked compliance managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

496 compliance managers

5 Star
14%

14% of compliance managers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
28%

28% of compliance managers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of compliance managers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of compliance managers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of compliance managers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do compliance managers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, compliance managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.4/5. The majority of compliance managers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

We asked compliance managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.4 out of 5 stars

496 compliance managers

5 Star
8%

8% of compliance managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
13%

13% of compliance managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of compliance managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of compliance managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
30%

30% of compliance managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as compliance managers?

Compliance managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of compliance managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked compliance managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

525 compliance managers

5 Star
23%

23% of compliance managers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of compliance managers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of compliance managers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of compliance managers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of compliance managers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a compliance manager’s work environment?

As a whole, compliance managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked compliance managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

526 compliance managers

5 Star
17%

17% of compliance managers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of compliance managers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
27%

27% of compliance managers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of compliance managers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of compliance managers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are compliance managers making the best use of their abilities?

Former compliance managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Compliance managers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

We asked compliance managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

527 compliance managers

5 Star
12%

12% of compliance managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
19%

19% of compliance managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of compliance managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of compliance managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
16%

16% of compliance managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars