Salary increases to be elusive in the financial services sector

2 in 3 managers won't increase salaries.

According to Morgan McKinley’s 2013 Singapore Hiring Market Report, another indication that challenges in the global economy have led to competitiveness both within the domestic hiring market, but also among leading financial centres is the focus on attracting talent amongst Singapore’s financial institutions.

70% of hiring managers are focused on attracting new employees, whilst in Hong Kong and China most hiring managers rank holding on to existing staff as their key personnel challenge in the next 12 months.

Re-training their top talent is also a concern in Singapore financial institutions and remuneration was cited by a third of respondents as a pressing issue, similar to China.

Salaries were a little less of a concern in Hong Kong. Encouragingly, handling redundancies was seen as an issue by only 14% in Singapore and Hong Kong and 16% in China – which underlines the small number of companies that expect to see job losses with no further hiring activity.

To combat their concerns over talent attraction, hiring managers across financial services institutions plan to increase training opportunities as part of their recruitment strategies.

Over 70% of respondents see this as most important, followed by improved talent planning and fast tracking of individuals within the organisation. It seems that competition from other employers is driving a focus on presenting better long-term career development opportunities.

When it comes to compensation, only 17% of respondents view this as key to attracting new hires, illustrating the downward pressure on bonuses, which makes them less of a draw for professionals looking to move.  

Close to a third will look at increasing salaries and just over a third are planning to improve other methods of reward and remuneration.