Key findings from the 2011 Hays Salary Guide are:
• Increased hiring intentions declared by employers;
• Demand in key areas shifts the market from employer-driven to candidate-driven;
• Yet to see widespread salary increases, despite rising demand – hence the reference to brewing storm.
“Despite our dual economy – in which many SMEs are running lean teams but the larger corporates are recruiting talent – we see the beginnings of perfect storm surrounding skills shortage,” says Jason Walker, managing director of Hays in New Zealand.
According to the survey results, 57 percent of New Zealand organisations said business activity increased over the past 12 months. Permanent staff levels rose in 38 percent of departments, with the greatest increases evident in engineering (up 67 percent) and operations (up 65 percent).
Looking ahead, 45 percent of organisations expect permanent staffing levels to increase over the year ahead, with just nine percent expecting to decrease levels. In addition, 67 percent expect business activity to increase.
“Despite this, New Zealand employers are yet to make widespread salary increases. Fifty-seven percent of employers intend to increase salaries by less than three percent when they next review, while 14 percent will offer no increase,” says Walker.
“Such low intentions are at odds with candidates’ own rising expectations – particularly those candidates in demand – and so we expect the gap between salary expectations to widen even further.”
Walker says good example of the pressure points of rising recruitment activity can be seen in New Zealand’s construction industry, where Christchurch rebuild in full flight combined with general overall upturn in the domestic market will cause waves of candidate demand towards the last quarter of 2011 and into the first quarter of 2012.
“To counteract this perfect storm, smart employers will have recruitment strategies in place to hire talent well in advance of when it is needed.”
And it’s not just in the construction industry where companies need to be getting their recruitment act together. The Hays Salary Guide outlines number of notable salary trends across various sectors. To check these out visit: www.hays.net.nz/
