Fresh research from national recruitment firm Robert Half breaks down where employees and candidates across Australia are in a strong position to negotiate their salary packages.
IT and technology
Not surprisingly, the technology sector is experiencing the biggest changes and, with this, greater wage expectations. Robert Half’s results show that IT professionals had the greatest wage growth of 3.3 per cent compared with the national average of 2.3 per cent.
Employment as a whole is changing with new technology as the rise of the “gig economy” and the need for highly skilled foreign workers continue to grow.
Demand for cyber-security roles continue to be high, leading to a mix of temporary and permanent IT professionals having to continue to upskill to keep pace with technology.
Finance and accounting
Strong growth in the financial sector with a smaller talent pool is leading to employees having greater negotiating powers.
Employers are also willing to offer above-average salary packages to professions with big four experience – Pwc, KPMG, EY or Deloitte.
Australians in the financial industry are 80 per cent likely to consider additional non-salary benefits if an employer was unable to meet their salary expectations.
Administration and office support
In a candidate-short market, employers are searching for the right talent within an increasingly limited pool of professionals.
Employers are offering above-average salaries to attract and retain talented administrative professionals. At the same time, many are now offering bonus incentives to encourage employees to serve the full term of their contract.
Other benefits employees want
Employees are continuing to want more than just a high base salary. According to Robert Half, employees are increasingly likely to take a lower base salary if they are rewarded in other ways.
- 84 per cent would take a pay cut for flexible hours and/or option to work from home/remote working
- 60 per cent would take a base pay cut for wellbeing/health programs
- 60 per cent would take a base pay cut for bonuses
- 58 per cent would take a base pay cut for paid parental leave/long-service recognition/increased holiday allowance
- 56 per cent would take a base pay cut for company-paid mobile phone
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