Four in five Aussies unhappy at work; AIM NSS
The latest findings from AIM’s 2016 National Salary Survey released this month, show the Australian living standard is now under more pressure than ever before. Wage growth has fallen for a 4th consecutive year, a statistic rarely seen in Australia over the past three decades.
The 2016 NSS found the overall salary movement is currently sitting at +3.0 per cent, which is a decrease from the +3.4 per cent reported in 2015 and the lowest reported percentage since 2012, having dropped 1.1 per cent overall in four years. This downward trend is forecast to continue in 2017, especially in Queensland and Western Australia, both of which have been affected by the mining downturn.
The salary movement decrease has hit the construction and manufacturing industries the hardest, with economists suggesting the mining boom disguised the national salary decrease. With retail, finance and business industries also under threat from the decrease, AIM’s NSS has uncovered the reasons employees are unhappy in their current roles, with more than four out of five (81.9 per cent) choosing to leave to look for new challenges, more than half (56.5 per cent) citing limited career advancement opportunities and 44.4% looking for better financial reward.
The NSS found one in three (34.5 per cent) Australian businesses are making contributions above the superannuation guarantee (9.5 per cent). However, the proportion of employees who are salary sacrificing has dropped across the board since last year, suggesting Australian employees are putting less focus on their retirement, choosing instead to use their disposable incomes to maintain their current standard of living.
The survey also found 66.8 per cent of Australian employees left a current job to start a similar role at another organisation. Businesses are worried workplace culture is to blame for this, with 63.7 per cent of respondees citing this as the human resource issue they are most concerned about. Other big ticket HR concerns included learning and development opportunities, lack of internal promotions available and poor leadership & management skills.
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The AIM National Salary Survey, now in its 52nd year, is based on the responses of more than 500 organisations across Australia, covering more than 25,000 employees and 270 job roles.
