Over—paying just as risky as underpaying employees, says Hudson

By Hannah Lynch

Feb. 13 (BusinessDesk) – Overpaying employees is just as risky as underpaying them, according to recruitment firm Hudson’s latest report, as no organisation wants to be represented by someone driven by price.

The key to effectively managing salary budgets is to adopt assessment methods that identify high performers who warrant additional investment and resource, Hudson said.

The firm found that seven out of 10 employees from New Zealand and Australia believed it would be easy to find a similar job, with comparable pay and conditions, while salary proved the biggest factor of retention for more than four out of 10 employees.

“All of the industries surveyed reported high levels of salary increases, compared to the 2 to 4 percent national average,” Hudson said. “Employees in ICT recorded the largest salary increase, with 27 percent of employees receiving a pay rise of more than 10 percent.”

“The sales, marketing & communications and HR industries also offered a high proportion of salary increases, with more than one in five employees receiving a pay rise of more than 10 percent.”

The report found the best way to retain staff though was to identify high performers prioritising their talents.

“Actively assessing candidates against criteria proven to predict high-performance helps organisations identify the most suitable fit by including assessments that measure candidates’ motivational and behavioural attributes,” Hudson said.

In New Zealand, employees need to move beyond assessing candidates solely on technical competence and experience. Businesses that took a more holistic approach proved 91 percent more successful when hiring staff, the report said.

The largest volume of salary increase was in the sales, marketing and communications industry, up 57 percent, followed by ICT, with 27 percent of employees receiving a 10 percent pay rise.

Senior talent remained a scare resource across most industries, apart from in accounting and finance, with 65 percent of organisations finding it difficult to source employees at the senior management level.

(BusinessDesk)

BUDGET 2012:
Parliament Debate Live - Video Of Budget 2011
Keith Ng Interactive Graphic: How the Budget Breaks Down
BUDGET 2012 - FULL COVERAGE: Reports / Analysis - Press Kit - Reaction (from everybody) - Previews (from everybody) - Pre-Budget Announcements

Gordon Campbell: On the Budget’s Spreadsheet Victories

It wasn’t as if expectations were sky high, exactly. Chances are, it was always more likely that we’d be seeing Bigfoot rampage through the Beehive lock-up than catch a glimpse of a credible growth agenda from this government. More >>

Sludge Budget Report - Short The Dollar! MEMO: To international bankers FROM: C.D. Sludge Please short the dollar! It'll be good for both you and us. And you know you want to. Greexit, Eurogeddon... watch out... flight to quality and all that. Follow your instincts. The NZ Debt Management Office has been so surprised at the unprecedentedly low interest rates that it can borrow at that it has already entirely pre-funded the 2013 fiscal deficit - all $8 billion of it! More >>

Pattrick Smellie Comment: Doddling along the best we can hope forCriticising Budgets for lacking vision or imagination is like shooting fish in a barrel, but even so, this year's Budget again feels like a missed opportunity. Perhaps it's the intrusion of real world needs that means the government couldn't make better political use of the $558.8 million it expects to gather in its first partial asset sale. More >>