The Abrivia Recruitment 2016 Salary Survey has revealed the key issues facing employers and staff in the coming year. It also highlig hted economic and recruitment trends affecting female respondents working in ICT, legal, finance, HR, sales, marketing and office support sectors. 69% of female respondents expect a salary increase in 2016
Survey Highlights
• 40% of women surveyed said they would be seeking a salary rise solely due to domestic rent increases
67% of women said that their current salary would not accommodate domestic rent increases
• 69% of women expected a salary increase in 2016
• 54% of women planned to change job in 2016
• 78% of women said they would seek out reviews before accepting an interview with a company. This figure rose to 93% for women in ICT.
• 69% of women said that a negative review of a company’s working environment would influence their decision to accept either an interview offer or a role. This figure rose to 85% for women in marketing roles.
• In terms of ‘reward’, female employees across all the employment sectors rated basic salary, amount of annual leave and bonus in first, second and third place respectively.
• The quality of the management team and quality of employees followed by a secure working environment and flexible hours were the top factors that mattered most in terms of working environment.
• Flexible hours mattered most to women working in ICT (64%) while the quality of the management team was the most important to women in marketing roles (73%).
• When asked about what keeps them motivated at work, 73% of female respondents said interest in the responsibilities of their role, followed by work/life balance (50%), management listening to their opinion (49%) and level of autonomy encouraged (41%)
• 63% of women who were renting said that it had increased in the past year and over a third of those said they would be seeking salary increases solely because of this.
• 70% of women in ICT were looking to buy a home in 2016 and nearly two-thirds of those said they would be likely to seek new employment to finance a mortgage.
GENERAL FINDINGS
Economist Dr Daragh McGreal said, “In 2016, GDP growth is anticipated at around 4%, unemployment is expected to fall below 8% by year-end, and the State’s budgetary deficit is expected to fall to 1.2%. These factors provide for a strong climate in which industry can thrive. However, those same factors can lead to demands for salary increases from employees, who see a growing economy, less competition for work, and a government more capable of procuring from the private sector”.
Donal O’Brien, managing director, Abrivia Recruitment said, “73% of all our respondents in our 2016 Survey expect a salary increase and 57% plan to change jobs. This leaves employers with two options: either pay the current employee higher wages or seek a replacement for the same salary. The preferred option is clear: 89% of our respondent employers expect to pay higher salaries in 2016”.
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR STAFF
The battle for staff continues in the ICT sector and in 2015, In 2016, 95% of firms plan to increase headcount and 96% plan to increase salaries, compared to 67% and 75% respectively in 2015. And as only 19% of ICT firms have an average employee tenure of greater than 5 years, indicating the fluidity of the market, candidates working in this sector can expect good opportunities and competition for their talents.
The Human Resources sector, long in the doldrums, has had its best year since pre-recession days with a significant increase in activity across all levels. 72% of HR professionals plan to change roles in 2016, which indicates increased competition for their services.
“However there is a distinct lack of availability of candidates at the 1-3 years’ post graduate experience level,” said associate director Anne Coleman, who leads Abrivia’s HR division. “This is because HR graduates really struggled to secure an entry level HR job in the past couple of years and therefore were either forced into a different career route or emigrated, hence leaving behind a very small pool of junior HR candidates”.
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