Pay award levels recorded by XpertHR have been low for the best part of seven years now, but is this about to change?
In early 2009 employees felt the full force of recession when the value of their annual pay rises plummeted – from around 3% to 3.5% in the years preceding the recession, to more than half of organisations freezing pay rates in the middle of 2009.
Those conducting pay reviews at this time were struggling to manage increases of more than 1%.
Fast forward seven years and pay awards have yet to fully recover.
The latest data from XpertHR, based on the three months to the end of July 2015, reveals that pay awards across all organisations are now typically worth 2%.
Further analysis reveals that the private sector mirrors the whole economy figure of 2%, while public-sector employers have made pay awards at the 1.6% mark over the past year (a figure boosted by higher increases for the lowest paid; and a 10.3% increase for MPs).
Given the stability in pay setting at present – the XpertHR median has been at, or close to 2%, for much of the past five years – can we expect more of the same over the coming year?
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
XpertHR is investigating employer’s pay plans for the year ahead, including at what level they expect to increase pay for employees.
Take part in our pay forecast research here and you will receive a free copy of the findings.
