Salary survey shows businesses are exercising caution

No news is good news, apparently, Certainly in the case of this year’s local Salary Survey that is the case.

Last year there was a levelling out of salary increments following two or three years of quite severe dips and troughs across different industries.

But this year’s Peterborough Local Market Survey, which we produce in partnership with specialist reward consultants PayData Ltd, shows a ‘cautious’ response to the economic conditions.

While a quarter of participants revealed they had frozen pay, the survey revealed an overall average 2.5 per cent rise in salaries over the past 12 months.

That suggests a plateau has been reached. Rather than companies trying to bring salary levels back in line or attract staff in certain areas, they now seem to be rewarding loyalty and hard work while keeping one eye on costs.

There are always the odd discrepancies in this type of survey. Advanced accounts clerks have notched up around 12 per cent extra in their pay packets while marketing assistants, IT assistants and production managers have noticed a small slip. But having studied the results, I suspect these blips could be more related to the shift in our sample. Some new businesses signed up to take part in this year’s salary which is always good news.

The survey is such a valuable benchmarking tool - one which has been part of the business landscape for 15 years – it is good to see the continuing involvement of some big names.

We are now working on the production of an interim report, concentrating on pay rises, to be produced in the new year. If you would like to take part do get in touch with us.

By participating in the full survey next year your company is entitled to see the entire results document. There is also the option to receive a comparison of your results against those of others.