ICT Salaries Dropping, but Industry Healthy

By Greg McNevin

March 13, 2008: According to a new survey released by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), the total industry remuneration cost has experienced a modest fall over the past 12 months.

In the annual survey of 38,000 sector employees, the association found that the current same incumbent movement figure of 5.5 percent (at Total Remuneration Cost) fell from 5.8 percent in August 2007 and 5.9 percent in March 2007.

It has dubbed the dips a “revealing trend in an environment in which ICT skills are at a premium,” and according to AIIA CEO Sheryle Moon, “it is clear that responsible management of budgets remains a key priority for the ICT industry.”

“In an uncertain economic climate, technology companies are increasingly looking for creative ways to improve their employee value proposition in order to attract and retain the talent they need,” says Moon.

“For example, one in five organisations report that they are improving motor vehicle policies specifically as an attraction and retention strategy.”

The association says that current industry retention strategies are working well, with the survey finding healthy levels of voluntary staff attrition of 15 percent. Moon says that the low attrition rate shows that workplaces are healthy and busy, that people are productive and engaged and not actively seeking other jobs.

Total staff attrition on the other hand (which includes issues associated with mergers and acquisitions across the industry), sits at nearly 19.7 percent. A higher figurer than average, but one the association claims reflects the volatile nature of the industry with factors such as the turbulent economy, the fight against inflation, impending IR legislation changes, and speculation about wages blowouts all making their presence known.

The Labor government coming into power is also making an impact as it is spending its first few months in review, delaying funding proposals, new initiatives and grant monies across the board.

“The current economic climate means that it is imperative for executives, line managers and HR professionals to understand the actual movements in ICT salaries over last six months in order to have informative discussions with employees and to budget responsibly into the future,” says Moon.

Comment%20on%20this%20story