After new City salaries rose by 18 per cent in 2014, will 2015 be another good year for pay?
Hakan Enver is operations director at Morgan McKinley, says Yes
Salaries and bonuses have risen at a rate that we have not seen since before the start of the financial crisis, with average increases for middle and back office staff over the past year standing at 18 per cent. We predict that, over the next year, salary increases will remain at similar levels, if not edge up to the 16 to 22 per cent range.
While some of this can be attributed to EU-led legislation around capping bonuses, salary growth has been fastest in accounting and finance and all areas of corporate governance. Regulatory demands and enhanced reporting needs have pushed compliance to the top of City hiring agendas.
With the need to adhere to changes imposed by regulators, demand is still outstripping supply. In line with this, employers are examining their reward structures more closely and we have seen increased benchmarking activity. As a result, organisations are hiring more compensation and benefit specialists to retain and source the best professionals.
Thomas de Freitas is managing director of Communicate Recruitment Solutions, says No
The general election is already anticipated to be a close-run affair, with certain polls predicting that a multi-party coalition will be on the cards. Results dependent, we could be faced with a referendum on Europe, a 50p tax rate, as well as radical changes to immigration laws – any one of which has the potential to impact on the confidence of City firms.
Further, economic pressures, previously confined to the fringes of the EU, are creeping closer to home. Germany has slashed its growth forecast and EU business optimism is falling with it. Given Greece’s march towards the euro’s exit door and the economic collapse in Russia, whispers of a belated triple-dip recession in the Eurozone are becoming less and less muted.
So many imponderables make it nigh on impossible for businesses to embark on the year ahead with confidence. Until these events transpire or are mitigated, 2015 will be a year of caution.