A talent shortage in Britain’s financial services and technology sectors has pushed salaries in the industry up by 2.6 percent in the last year, ahead of inflation and outpacing sluggish UK wage growth, research showed yesterday.
Hiring across finance and accounting, financial services, information technology and administration has returned to pre-recession levels, with demand for staff far exceeding supply as businesses start to target growth as well as efficiency, according to the 2015 Robert Half Salary Guide.
In financial services, 97 percent of executives surveyed reported challenges in finding candidates with the right skills.
Phil Sheridan, senior managing director at specialist finance and accounting recruitment firm Robert Half International Inc, said the best candidates have received multiple offers and counteroffers.
“It is therefore crucial that the remuneration companies offer is competitive with other businesses in their industry and region,” Sheridan said.
Banks including HSBC have complained that a new EU cap on bonuses could add to difficulty in recruiting staff.
Many banks introduced “role-based” allowances to counter the cap, but European regulators have said that they constitute variable pay and might need to be restructured.
However, Robert Half found that money is not the only thing on employees’ minds.
Many are also looking for other benefits and perks, such as flexibility in their work-life balance.
A vast majority of executives also said that companies’ attempts to overhaul their culture to focus more on risk management was impeding growth plans.
However, regulatory and risk management-related roles were among those that saw the biggest pay increases over the last year.
Robert Half said its study also found that cybersecurity had jumped up companies’ priority lists.
Almost 40 percent of financial services organizations were hiring permanent staff to manage cybersecurity initiatives, Robert Half said.
Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group plans to next week announce cuts of 9,000 jobs over the next three years, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The cuts amount to about 10 percent of Lloyds’ workforce and are scheduled to be announced as part of Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio’s strategy review on Tuesday next week, the sources said.
Horta-Osorio’s new three-year plan is expected to include the closure of some branches as the bank responds to a growing number of transactions being executed online, and the automation of some back-office functions.
The cuts are on top of the 30,000 jobs which the bank has axed since its a £20.5 billion (US$33 billion) government bailout during the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009.
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