Professional pay continues to inch up as hiring managers struggle to fill jobs
Salaries for white collar roles have nudged up over the last three years, as employers struggle to find talented staff to fill top finance and technology roles, research out today has found.
Starting salaries across all professional roles have increased by an average of 3.7 per cent since 2013, while Robert Half also predicts salaries in accounting, financial services, technology and administration will grow another 2.1 per cent next year.
However, employers are not dipping into their back pockets to fund bigger salaries out of the goodness of their hearts, as many have been pushed to increase pay in a bid to attract hard to find talent.
In particular, Robert Half found that, in accounting and finance, UK finance chiefs were most likely to complain about not being able to fill roles in compliance (cited by 21 per cent), accounting (20 per cent) and business and financial analysis (19 per cent).
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As a consequence, average salaries for financial planning and analysis managers are expected to shoot up by 5.8 per cent next year, while group accountants could see their pay grow by 3.8 per cent and compliance associates by three per cent.
Meanwhile, salaries are also increasing in the financial services sector, as the growth of fintech firms and challenger banks gives skilled staff more choices about where to spend their working hours. Those with a head for risk are in particularly high demand, with average salaries for senior operational risk managers expected to grow by 5.2 per cent.
The growing use of technology in the workplace is also creating greater demand for those who can put the necessary systems in place. Robert Half predicted salaries for developers will rise by 4.5 per cent in 2017, while salaries for junior developers will increase by 4.2 per cent.
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"Productivity and growth are today's premium business mantras and the growing skills shortage is one of the key challenges for any organisation to overcome," said Phil Sheridan, senior managing director of Robert Half UK, UAE and South America. "Competition for the best people is intensifying and as this year's [Robert Half Salary Guide] demonstrates, salaries for hard to fill roles continue to rise and outpace the average salary by a significant margin."