Professional salaries have grown by 3.68% in past three years

Average starting salaries for professional roles have grown by a composite rate of 3.68% in the past three years, according to the Robert Half 2017 Salary Guide.

Salaries for professional roles in finance and accounting, financial services, technology and administration are predicted to grow by a further 2.1% in 2017.

The Robert Half 2017 Salary Guide enables employers and employees to benchmark starting salaries for more than 275 different permanent professional roles on a national and regional basis.

Phil Sheridan, Senior Managing Director of Robert Half UK, UAE and South America commented: “Productivity and growth are today’s premium business mantras and the growing skills shortage is one of the key challenges for any organisation to overcome. Competition for the best people is intensifying and as this year’s guide demonstrates, salaries for hard to fill roles continue to rise and outpace the average salary by a significant margin.”

The need for more clearly defined administrative roles is set to continue in 2017, with specialists in telemarketing/telesales expected to reap the highest salary rises at 3.2%, while customer services supervisors (2.6%) and sales assistants (2.4%) will be rewarded for the part they play in retaining happy customers and driving new business. Almost half (46%) of HR directors expect to increase salaries for professional level employees in the year ahead.

Phil Sheridan continues: “As businesses undergo planning and recruitment strategies for 2017, they can turn to the latest Salary Guide to ensure they know where the salary hotspots are likely to be and whether they are paying top performers the salaries that competitors are likely to offer in the year ahead.”