www.ntnews.com.au CLASSIFIEDS 8944 9999 Saturday, June 15, 2013. NT NEWS. 3

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Employers still keento restrict increases

Employerswill need to

manage employee

expectations

The proportion of employers expecting to hire more and pay more is up on last year, although it varies across industries

EMPLOYERS are taking a cautiousapproach to salary increases in2013-14 despite having a more opti-mistic outlook about business con-ditions for the year ahead, accord-ing to the latest Hays Salary Guide.

o 40 per cent of employers see theeconomy strengthening in the nextsix to 12 months and 68 per cent pre-dict increased business activity fortheir organisation.

o 37 per cent of employers plan tohire additional staff in the yearahead, with most new hires tobe full-time.

o Despite tempered confidence,most employers plan salary in-creases of less than 3 per cent.

A forecast increase in businessconfidence will not translate intolarge salary increases over 2013-14,according to a survey of more than1600 employers carried out as part ofthe annual Hays Salary Guide.

‘‘In our 2012 survey, only 27 percent of employers believed the econ-omic outlook was strengthening, butwe have seen that group grow to40 per cent in our 2013 surveyagainst a backdrop of continuinglow interest rates and the recentlyfalling Australian dollar,’’ saysClaire Forsyth, manager of Haysin Darwin.

‘‘And 68 per cent expect businessactivity to increase for theirparticular organisation over thecoming months.

‘‘Only 8 per cent of the employerssurveyed for the Hays Salary Guideplan to keep salaries on hold com-pared to 11 per cent in 2012 but look-ing ahead salary growth will bemodest despite the expected growthin confidence in the economy.’’

The latest 2013 Hays Salary Guideoutlines salary and recruitingtrends for more than 1000 roles acro-ss 14 locations in Australia andNew Zealand.

The guide is based on a survey ofover 1600 employers in addition todata generated by the placementsmade by the Hays team.

Of the employers surveyed, 57 percent plan to increase salaries by lessthan 3 per cent in the next salaryreview period.

A further 32 per cent of employerswill increase salaries by 3 per cent to6 per cent, 2 per cent plan increasesof 6 per cent to 10 per cent and only1 per cent plan pay increases ofmore than 10 per cent.

‘‘Employers will need to manageemployee expectations around sal-ary increases carefully and ensurethat their top performers feel re-warded if they want to retain theirbest staff,’’ Claire says.

When asked about permanentheadcount over the next 12 months,37 per cent of employers plan to in-crease hiring activity with 83 percent reporting that these roles willbe full-time (down from 85 per centin 2012). A further 20 per cent plan

more part-time staff (18 per cent in2012), 14 per cent more casual staff(15 per cent in 2012) and 17 per centplans to increase their use of tem-porary/contracting staff (un-changed from 2012).

While the gloss has gone off theresources and mining sector interms of hiring and salaries, 60 percent of the employers surveyed inthe engineering sector and 49 percent in the project managementspace plan to increase permanentheadcount, making these two of thestrongest sectors for demandfor talent.

The outlook for accountancy andfinance recruitment is sluggish,with 65 per cent of employers plan-ning to keep staffing levels at cur-

rent levels. Junior to mid-management accounting and fin-ance roles are in most demand inthis sector.

Areas of skill shortage include op-erations staff and junior to mid-management talent for engineering,technical roles, sales and marketingand IT roles.

However, within sales, the pro-fessionals in most demand are thosethat can take on ‘‘hunter’’ style rolesto bring in new business, while de-mand for account management tal-ent has declined.

Of the employers surveyed, 61 percent would consider sponsoring can-didates from overseas for hard to fillroles — up 2 per cent from 2012.

‘‘The Hays Salary Guide is a must

for candidates, particularly thosewho have not been in the marketfor a new job in a few years,’’Claire says.

‘‘The guide also provides a look atremuneration trends such as pro-viding a car or car allowance, bonu-ses, private health insurance and re-warding staff with above mandatedsuperannuation payments.

‘‘We also look at working condit-ions, for example 83 per cent of oursurvey group claim to offer flexiblework arrangements and 26 per centadmit overtime/extra hours has in-creased in their organisation in theyear since our last survey.

‘‘We also found it interesting thatonly 1 per cent of organisations havea policy of making a counter-offerwhen a staff member resigns.

‘‘It is useful for both employersand employees and candidates aliketo know the prevailing mood.’’

Hays is the world’s leading re-cruiting expert in qualified, profess-ional and skilled people.

In Darwin, Hays is at Level 2, Dar-win Central, 21 Knuckey St. Phone08 8943 6000 or visit hays.com.au

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