Time for a pay rise?

17 May 2007

2 minute read

Are you being paid enough? Is it time you asked your boss for a rise? Salary surveys are a good way of gauging average earnings, but they don't all say the same thing.

According to recruitment firm Manpower, Irish banking salaries haven't risen at all since last year. Across retail, funds, treasury, stockbroking and corporate lending, all the numbers are as static as can be.

But this isn't entirely accurate, according to Ronan Colleran, director of recruiters Accreate. "The banks are engaging in a turf war, with Royal Bank of Scotland clearly focused on paying strong packages to attract top talent in an effort to boost market share, both in Dublin and regionally," he tells us.

Recruitment firm Brightwater's salary survey also paints a brighter picture. Last year, for example, junior stockbrokers earned a basic of €25k to €28k, while this is now €26k to €30k. Sign-on bonuses are also increasingly commonplace for some roles, the survey found.

"Salaries in financial services have definitely increased over the past 12 months, particularly within the investment banking sector, where several new entrants are paying premiums to attract high-calibre front-end candidates. Wealth management is also a huge growth area, with a lot of competition for front-office candidates putting pressure on salaries and bonuses," says Colleran.

Comparing salary surveys from recruiters Hudson, Brightwater, Manpower and Accreate, there are small variations in their salary findings for junior positions, but wider gaps in their findings for compliance managers' salaries, for example.

"The market is small and close-knit here and some recruitment firms just don't have the access to up-to-date market information on packages and aren't in a position to produce accurate data for the purposes of salary surveys," explains Colleran.

"There's also a shift towards higher bonuses, with guaranteed elements now being commonplace in offers to attract talent in investment banking, for example, and this may not be reflected in some salary surveys," he adds.