Kate Ross: Are salaries on the rise?

The temp and contract book is very strong and has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year, says Kate Ross.

Over the past month or so people have been asking me about salaries a lot - employers want to know if other companies have started to increase their staff's take home pay and candidates want to know if it's okay to start asking for more.

When our clients have annual reviews coming up they call us to see what the market is doing.

As the market is significantly better than last year, many employers are in a position where they are recovering financially and if that is the case, they should be making a big effort to recognise the staff who got them through the recession.

If not, as the market strengthens and more opportunities open up for good candidates, staff movement is inevitable. Now is not a good time to lose your star performers. We are finding that a big percentage of candidates coming into the business are currently employed and wanting new challenges.

With this movement on the cards, it stands to reason that the trend is for salaries to begin to rise in order to keep current employees happy or to attract the next staff member.

As we all know good people are still hard to find. We have found that average increases for existing employees are sitting at around 2-5 per cent of the salary, that salary has, in most cases, been the same since 2008.

We have noticed a big increase in business in the Wellington market. The temp and contract book is very strong and has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year.

The rates we pay our temps have risen out of necessity across the board in both cities as candidates are harder to find, they know the market is much better and the only way to get loyalty is, unfortunately, to buy it.

In spite of this, we still find that getting long term commitment from candidates in temp roles is difficult. If another agency calls with a higher rate, most temps will move for greener grass, regardless of any commitment they have made - the ways of old are starting to appear again.

We do our best, on behalf of our clients, to avoid this scenario and we try to keep lines of communication open with temps but unfortunately it is difficult to make anyone do something they don't want to do.

At the end of the day, we give temp work to people who appreciate it and do a great job over and over again - we work with amazing candidates who are loyal and committed who will jump out of bed and go anywhere at 7am because they genuinely want to work. The people who don't show the same commitment won't hear from us again - we don't forget!

The vibe in the market is positive. As the year progresses, we see more and more confidence coming back into businesses. Employers are loosening the purse strings and heading to the market to fill a gap they have due to increased workload.

We are seeing some very well skilled candidates looking for work; they are getting interviews quickly and have multiple offers just as fast. Most of the time it's the money that's the deciding factor.

Another thing we have noticed is an increase of uptake in the services on offer from our psychometric testing team.

Previously, this service was mostly utilised for middle or senior management roles, but we have found clients are now asking us to test for an increasing number of roles we are placing, ensuring that the fit for the team is as near perfect as possible. It's back to basics for a lot of companies - ensuring that every person on the team is valuable and effective - no room for error.

Most recruitment agencies will be able to offer up-to-date market salary information to both candidates and employers, so if you are looking for work, or you wish to retain or increase your team make the most of this free information to stay one step ahead.


Kate Ross, Director of Kinetic Recruitment