Employees still expect pay rises during the next year

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its damaging financial impact on UK businesses, over two-fifths of employees are still expecting a pay rise during the next 12 months.

This is according to CV-Library, who found that 41 per cent of workers believe they will receive a pay rise during the next year. However, under a fifth (19 per cent) do not believe they will be offered a promotion during the same period. It appears that younger employees are more confident they will be offered a promotion with 60 per cent of 18-year-olds or younger expecting this and 39 per cent of 18-24-year-olds.

Professionals are more likely to expect an increase in pay if they are based in these key cities:

  • Liverpool (71 per cent)
  • Aberdeen (60 per cent)
  • Edinburgh (55 per cent)
  • Exeter (55 per cent)
  • Sheffield (53 per cent)
  • Manchester (52 per cent)
  • Lincoln (50 per cent)
  • Southampton (47 per cent)
  • York (44 per cent)
  • London (44 per cent)

Half (50 per cent) of those currently unemployed are confident they can secure a new job in the next three months.

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library said:

It’s understandable that professionals are looking to regain some of their lost income in the coming months, particularly if they’ve been placed on furlough. However, the Government’s Job Retention Scheme will come to an end in October and a second wave of the virus could cause even more trouble for business owners in 2021.

If you’re unable to offer pay rises in the coming year, but want to retain staff, it’s important that you do what you can to make your employees feel valued in another way. This can be done by offering better training opportunities, initiating a reward system for hard work or by promoting a supportive company culture.

The data clearly shows that young professionals have a great deal of confidence in the job market; which is refreshing given that we know they’ve been hit hard by the pandemic. While we are seeing an increase in the number of job opportunities available, job seekers may find that it takes longer than expected to find the perfect role. However, if you’re looking to hire, it’s imperative that you streamline your recruitment process and advertise your new roles effectively in order to attract new talent.

In order to gather these results, CV-Library spoke to 1,100 UK professionals.

 

 

 

 

Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.