Finance, farming and transport hit hardest by pay cuts, according to Randstad research
Randstad’s latest analysis of the salaries of over 9,000 UK and Ireland workers, and data from 700 placed jobs, highlights the roles, industries, and demographics with the highest salaries or biggest drops over the last year.
The losers
According to the 2021 Randstad salary guide, Irish finance professionals were hit hardest, with part qualified group accountant seeing salary decline of -8%, followed by finance manager (-6%) and part qualified management accountant (-6%). In terms of sector, those working in agriculture and transportation saw the largest decreases in salary for new roles – reduced by 44% and 43% respectively. The East of England saw the biggest fall in remuneration as a region, with 28% changing jobs with a pay cut compared to just 14% in London.
The older demographic saw the biggest decline, with nearly half (48%) of 55-64-year-olds surveyed reported a decrease in their salary.
The winners
Demand for developers and specialist tech roles pushed their salaries up by 9%, according to Randstad’s Employer Brand Research (REBR), with the East Midlands the best region to find qualified tech workers. Despite the tech boom in the East Midlands, the West saw higher than average vacancies (up 11% overall) while the East fell to 2% below average.
HR assistant salaries rose by 6% in the North East and by an average of 4.5% across the North West, with salaries for other HR-related roles rising by nearly 3% on average across the country. London saw the biggest rise, with 15% of Londoners, across all sectors, received a pay increase of between £2,000 and £5,000 – and a further 15% reporting a pay rise of over £30,000 when switching jobs.
The three highest ranked roles by salary rise were: Software Developer (9%) followed by Marketing Assistant (7%) and HR Manager (5%).
Rise of the marketing assistants
With firms focused on competition, differentiation and positioning themselves for the upturn, marketing is in higher demand. Pay rises for marketing assistant roles now vary from a 1.5% increase to 13% in Yorkshire, to over 18% for newly qualified marketers based in the North-West of England. All marketing function roles in the UK have seen an average 5% increase on 2020 figures.
“With organisations over the past 18 months seeing a long list of changes — from new privacy policies, the accelerated digitalisation of brands, altered consumer behaviour due to the pandemic — marketers are working harder than ever, essentially, being asked to do more and with less,” said Adrian Smith, Senior Director of Operations, Randstad. “Acknowledging the importance of the central marketing function and the role it plays in supporting business objectives, the more junior marketers are getting the recognition they deserve.”
Not all about salaries
A new study by borofree highlights The importance of company benefits to attract and retain talent during a major talent shortage across all sectors has been highlighted in a new study from Borofree, a UK salary advance start-up that helps people avoid debt by providing free access to a proportion of their next pay cheque in advance.
The online survey of 2009 employed adults, conducted by Censuswide between 28th May – 2nd June 2021, found that 68% believe company benefits and perks have an important role in driving staff recruitment and retention. However, one in five of UK employees have had their packages reduced or cut completely in the last 12 months – including 28% of 16-24 year olds and 29% of those aged 25-34 years. As a result, 15% of 16-24 year old’s have considered leaving their job.
The study claims that employers are too focused on the short term and not enough on long term perks, with 25% of employees stating that they don’t think the perks being offered are relevant or tailored to them – such as fertility treatments or sailing trips – and 15% revealing they have never received any perks from the company they currently work for.
Benefits packages that provide financial wellbeing support are in highest demand, with pensions the most popular for a third of respondents but 18% want the option of being paid weekly and 14% want an interest free loan. “Too many companies approach company benefits as a PR exercise, failing to consider what’s going to make a real difference to their employees workplace wellbeing and happiness,” said Minck Hermans, CEO and Co-founder at borofree. “Evidently, the fads and outrageous corporate packages are no longer ticking the boxes for staff, who are looking for perks that are both relevant and useful for them.”
Photo courtesy of Canva.com
