Page 10 - Gi February 2022

management & education news

SALARIES SET TO SKYROCKET IN 2022 AS FIRMS

TRY TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES, RESEARCH FINDS

SALARIES FOR WHITE collar
professionals look to be on the rise in
the first quarter of 2022 as companies
fight to retain their best staff, a study
has revealed.
Analysis of more than 100,000 jobs
posted over the last 12 months, carried
out for professional recruitment firm
Robert Walters’ 2022 UK Salary Guide,
found professional services firms are
planning to increase their budget for
pay rises by 10 to 15 per cent this year.
Chief Financial Officer Alan
Bannatyne told the BBC his recruiters
are placing graduate lawyers on starting
salaries as high as £150,000 amid a
shortage of workers and that in many
UK industries people were quitting for
better paid jobs amid soaring demand.
“Fifteen per cent is the minimum SOME FIRMS ARE INCREASING THEIR
pay rise we’re seeing, but some are SALARIES BY UP TO 50 PER CENT
increasing their salaries by up to 50 per
cent,” he said. for talent” and it was “incredibly hard to airlines have really struggled so will
“Unless something significant happens, find the right people”. probably not be paying bonuses or
2022 should be even better for staff.” Employers have put up salaries to giving pay rises,” he told the BBC.
UK job vacancies have hit record attract workers, although Mr Bannatyne “So they become a hunting ground for
levels since the economy reopened as said there had been “winners and other high growth businesses, such as
employers scramble to meet demand. losers” from Covid-19 and not everyone online retailers, anything to do with
The report from Robert Walters said this was in a position to pay well. technology and digital, and
had put firms in a “fierce competition “Bricks-and-mortar retailers and manufacturers of household goods.”

FIRMS CUT SICK PAY FOR UNVACCINATED UK STAFF WHO ARE SELF-ISOLATING

FURNITURE RETAILER IKEA has cut UK have set similar rules.
sick pay for unvaccinated UK staff In some countries, including the
who are forced to self-isolate because LCV / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM US, companies have insisted that
of close contact with someone with staff receive coronavirus vaccines
Covid-19, it has emerged. or else pay monthly fees, in the case
Unvaccinated workers at Ikea are of Delta Air Lines, or even lose their
only eligible for statutory sick pay jobs at employers such as United
of £96.35 a week during 10 days of Airlines, tech company Google and
isolation, compared with weekly pay IKEA HAS CUT SICK PAY FOR UNVACCINATED Citigroup, one of the world’s largest
WORKERS FORCED TO SELF-ISOLATE
of more than £400 before tax for an banks. French president Emmanuel
average worker on the shop floor. cost on those without an exemption Macron has also pledged to “piss off”
However, managers at the retailer, who decline to be vaccinated. unvaccinated people (who are not
which employs 10,000 staff in People in England who are fully exempt) by making daily life slightly
the UK, will consider mitigating vaccinated – with at least two doses more difficult for them.
circumstances, reports The Guardian. of most of the approved vaccines Employment experts have
Some employers have – are not required to self-isolate if suggested that “no jab, no job” policies
experimented with incentives for they have been in close contact with would be difficult for companies in
workers to get vaccinated, including someone infected with Covid-19. the UK to enforce because of stronger
free time off during work hours, but However, unvaccinated people worker protections and rules against
Ikea and utility company Wessex contacted through the government’s discrimination. However, UK care
Water, have joined supermarket test-and-trace system must still self- workers have been obliged to be
Morrisons in imposing a financial isolate by law. Other nations of the vaccinated since November.

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News.indd 5 27/01/2022 11:49