Peterborough salaries fall by 3.6%

Nel WoolcottAVERAGE salaries across the city have fallen by 3.6 percent, according to a recent survey, with some job categories suffering a drop in average wages of more than 10 per cent.

Warehouse and store staff are among the hardest hit with their pay dipping 10.2 per cent while call centre and customer service staff have seen a drop of 7.5 per cent.

Personal assistants to directors have seen an average 2.3 per cent increase while maintenance technicians’ salaries have gone up by 2.2 per cent.

The findings come from the 12th annual Peterborough Local Market Survey, produced by specialist reward consultants PAYdata Ltd in partnership with Anne Corder Recruitment (ACR).

Twenty four of Greater Peterborough’s most high profile companies – representing a host of different industries and sectors – fed in information about employees pay and benefits, giving a survey sample of 4,800 staff – 500 more than last year.

Nel Woolcott (above), recruitment partner at Anne Corder said, “We are confident the results of the survey provide an accurate reflection of employees pay across the board, because of the broad spectrum of businesses and roles covered. We suspected this climate could deliver the first fall in salaries since the survey began over a decade ago but it was surprising just how much average salaries had fallen.”

Last year’s Peterborough Local Market Survey returned figures which showed city employees had enjoyed an average six per cent rise in the year to September 2008.

“We were cautious when reporting the result of last year’s salary survey, knowing this year was going to be very challenging for businesses,” Ms Woolcott added. “The feedback from many businesses is that the later in the year staff pay reviews have taken place the more individuals have missed out on any extra money. Some incredibly tough decisions involving redundancies and pay freezes have had to be made by managers and directors.”

Data services manager for PAYdata Tim Kellett said: “The survey results reflect common trends we have seen across the country, although the East Midlands does appear to have been harder hit. The scale of the decrease in 2009 is no doubt balanced out with the higher than expected increase in 2008. Even so, this still indicates tough market conditions in the local labour market.”

Other findings from the survey include:

  • 56 per cent of employees offer private medical insurance.
  • Six per cent of organisations differentiate holiday entitlement by seniority – last year’s figure was 12 per cent.
  • More than half of employees – 53 per cent – offer a group personal pension scheme to new employees.

The Peterborough Local Market Survey has become a benchmark for many companies when reviewing salaries and benefits packages.
For more information about involvement in future Local Market Surveys or to receive a detailed participants report please email info@annecorder.co.uk