As a leading South West senior and executive recruitment search firm, King Executive has seen a significant increase in salaries in the last 6-12 months. Demand for higher salaries has been impacted by the snowball effect of Brexit, covid and now the burgeoning cost of living crisis. Cities like London are offering very attractive packages whilst also providing working from home benefits to South West residents, making the challenge of recruiting top talent for local firms that bit harder.
King Executive are committed to delivering up to date market intelligence so surveyed over 300 senior and executive professionals across the region including Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol and Bath, to find out if South West salaries are enough and determine a true picture of what is happening in the market.
Whilst 64% of respondents have received a salary increase in the last 12 months, 59% of them felt their package was not competitive. 94% of people said the personal touch is important when deciding to change roles and that being contacted by their prospective manager could make them accept a job offer faster. 75% of respondents said they would change their job for career progression and development.
One respondent commented “Companies in the South West do seem to look at recruiting executives at lower salary levels than the rest of the country. If you’re a senior exec in a challenging role in Birmingham, it’s no less challenging in Somerset although the expectation is that you’ll be paid £20k – £30k less a year”.
The salary survey also looked at how to negotiate a senior executive package and what should be included in that, plus benefits. Especially in the current climate, it is a useful resource for businesses to use and assess what their offering is like, how effective and competitive that might be in the market, and what they may need to consider in order to recruit new members to their team or retain the staff they have.
For the full survey insights they can be accessed by visiting https://mailchi.mp/kingrecruit.com/are-south-west-senior-salaries-enough
