Aussie IT pros to get lower-than-expected salary bump this year

More IT professionals in Australia are expected to get salary increases compared to last year, but the dollar increase itself will be lower.

According to a report from recruitment firm Hays, some 91 percent of IT and telco employees will get larger pay packets in their next review, but more than half will only see a three percent raise or lower.

By comparison, 87 percent of employees got raises last year, while 38 percent got pay increases of three percent or lower. Meanwhile, those getting pay increases of more than 6 percent only account for 11 percent of employers.

Hays also found that 57 percent of IT professionals said a salary increase is their number one career priority this year. Of these, 46 percent intend to achieve this by asking for a pay rise, while others are looking elsewhere. Some 41 percent of the job seekers said their current uncompetitive salary provoked their job search.

However Hays said IT remains as one of Australia’s highest remunerated industries as demand for IT skills is still high.

“Salary growth is largely driven by skill shortages, particularly in areas such as cyber security, data and software development, with numerous roles seeing double digit year-on-year growth,” Hays IT managing director Adam Shapley said.

“Many enterprises have undergone and continue to undergo major transformations in the pursuit of increasing productivity and efficiency, resulting in a growing need for change professionals and Agile practitioners. In digital technology, there has been increasing demand and rising salaries as a result for full stack developers and DevOps engineers.”

Shapley added cyber security also remains a top priority for most organisations, with a increased demand for cyber security consultants, with remuneration also going up.

The highest salaries are still located within the major cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, although there has been “considerable growth” in regional areas as well.

“Organisations will have to adjust their salary offerings upwards to attract candidates to regional areas, particularly when recruiting for a niche skill-set,” Shapley said.

Hays expects another strong year for IT professionals with ongoing recruitment needs and salary spikes for specialist roles.

“As technology continues to play a central role in enabling change and developing new services and products, most companies are committed to investing in IT and increasing IT headcount,” Shapley said.

“Even organisations that have had a year of transformation and technology implementations will continue to face another wave of disruption.”