The need to go beyond increasing salaries

Organisations in every industry, irrespective of size and geographical locations, are experiencing the worst skill and labour shortages in decades. 

A seller’s employment market

Rising salaries. Longer delays in filling vacancies. Increasing job ads competition.  These are real dilemmas. Organisations across the country are finding it a challenge to fill vacancies.

Across Australia according to the latest data from ABS, more than 1 in 4 businesses report having difficulty in finding suitable staff to fill job vacancies, and 1 in 5 occupations are experiencing skill shortages.

Beyond the day-to-day impact, organisations are feeling the financial pressure of staff shortages because many end up turning away projects, more work or expansionary opportunities.  Naturally this restraint is a barrier to growth, and if not handled well, has the potential to cause lasting damage for many organisations in the long run.

Employers must go beyond increasing salaries

As rising inflation and cost of living pressures are impacting people, employers must undertake a review of their compensation and rewards program, ensuring that they are not only paying at a competitive level, but are not limiting their offerings to just salary increases.

The current talent-driven economy calls for organisations to build a more robust pipeline of future workforce.  Numerous employment research findings spell out the following:

• An increasing number of employees are dissatisfied with their current salary;
• What matters most in terms of employee benefits include:
  • A pay rise
  • Developing technical skills, and
  • Flexible work.

Increase compensation and benefits

Traditionally, raising the base compensation by CPI was a ready-made easy fix. But this is no longer a solution. A quick, across the board increase can be extremely costly, and while possibly offering temporary success, it is not sustainable even in the short term.
To compete in today’s highly competitive job market, your compensation strategy must be open to alternatives or other variable tactics. For example:

Upskill your employees to drive growth

It’s more important than ever that organisations disrupt traditional thinking and take a more proactive and purposeful approach to their employee retention strategy.

From digital literacy to interpersonal skills and beyond, means offering support of a skills development program as well as the adoption of a continuous learning approach that improves your organisation’s ability to grow and scale.

Workplace training allows employees to further develop their skill set, adding currency to their knowledge. The taking on of this opportunity to improve your employees skills and knowledge not only builds on their professional development, but it allows them to feel more valued.

But there is NO ONE-SIZE FITS ALL

Committing to build a more agile and future-ready organisation demands a new approach when reviewing your compensation strategy, but one thing is for certain, employers must go beyond just salary increases to attract and retain talent.

The current challenges offer a new opportunity for both employers and employees to come together and define a new equation that generates many mutual benefits.