Advertising and media staff set to be disappointed with their pay rises, salary survey finds
Top end staff in the advertising and media sector are being optimistic about their chances and size of a salary increase this year says recruitment company Hays.
The 2018-19 Hays Salary Guide survey of more than 3,000 organisations found that while 6% of employees in the sector were expecting a 10%+ pay rise, only 4% of employers were planning to give such increases.
However, despite the mismatch, advertising and media still topped the list of those likely to see some sort of payrises, with 13% of employers planning salary increases of 6% or more in their next review. Professional services (11%), construction, property & engineering (9%), IT & telecommunications and hospitality, travel & entertainment (both 8%), and financial services and mining, resources, energy and oil & gas (all 7%), all came behind.
At the top end of the market, 4% of employers expected to grant pay increase of more than 10%. However 6% of staff believed they would get a similar increase.
Overall, the sector seems to be realistic about the size of pay rises on offer with 88% expecting some salary increase, and 89% of employers prepared to offer one.
On the bigger economic picture, 64% of marketing execs told Hays they expect business activity to increase, against 77% of most of the survey.
That relative pessimism spread into hiring intentions with 34% of the industry expecting to increase their headcount against 47% overall. Across all sectors, respondents said they expected 84% of new hires to be full time employees.
Demand for marketing communications specialists also increased in all sectors with salaries and rates rising to attract talent.
In the public sector, particularly the public sector, temporary graphic designers have been in greater demand too as government agencies aim to improve engagement with the public by enhancing their websites and digital applications.
Marketing was one of the biggest users of temporary and contract staff with 30% of respondents looking to use more temps, as opposed to an industry average of 22%.
Interestingly nearly half of all repspondents say they are reststructing their business to keep up with changing business needs. With changing skill sets (48%) and digital transformation (31%) driving that restructure.
Sydney and Melbourne based marketing managers were the best rewarded workers in the survey with a incomes of up to $250k, while marketing assistants in Brisbane were the lowest paid with $37k.
