21 February 2022, our recent Business Leaders Pulse makes for a conservative view on increasing staff salaries in light of a booming employment market.
Just over one in four (26%) say they have increased some of their staff salaries but clearly only a select number of employees stand to benefit. On top of this, 17% of business leaders say they have made no changes to the payroll which begs the question, what is driving their decision-making to maintain the status quo?
Some cite a pay freeze in the Public Sector while others want more certainty before rewarding their teams any more than they have to. Others take a more positive view and see a pay increase as an opportunity to thank individuals for their ‘hard work’ and ‘sterling efforts’ during a very demanding period in our lives.
One CEO opined, “We continue to pay above the average for our team to ensure we maintain quality, experience and loyalty. I’ve always been told, ‘pay peanuts, get monkeys.’ However, it’s not all about salary – flexible working, the office environment, our culture, training, bonuses, pension contributions etc all make towards the overall package and experience we offer.”
Other business leaders mention using smaller salary increases to help their people keep ahead of the cost of living and rising energy bills.
All things considered, one Chief Executive observed that it’s really important employees like the people they work with as well as believe in the organisation’s objectives. So perhaps, it’s really is no more complicated than that.
The employment market is booming. How much have you increased staff salaries to mitigate employee churn?
