Professional salaries in Scotland set to rise in 2017

The new Robert Half 2017 Salary Guide has revealed that the most difficult areas to recruit for according to Scottish CFOs are business and financial analysis (cited by 28 per cent), financial planning and analysis (28 per cent) and compliance (25 per cent) and this is reflected in higher than average predicted salary rises for Scottish based chief financial officers (8.8 per cent), financial planning and analysis managers (7.7 per cent) and project accountants (6.8 per cent).

Salaries are therefore predicted to continue rising for finance and accounting professionals across the board and businesses are eager to hire candidates with the right cultural fit along with technical expertise and experience.

Part-qualified candidates looking to advance their careers with the same company are seeing their starting salary offers increase.

The emergence of the challenger banking sector and fintech in general is creating strong opportunities for professionals with retail banking skills. This is putting further pressure on the ‘traditional’ financial services sector when competing for new employees, the employment specialist said.

Solvency II, the EU Directive in European Union law that codifies and harmonises the EU insurance regulation, came into force at the beginning of 2016 and has changed the way European insurers do business. It has also sparked a wave of strong M&A activity in the market. This churn in the marketplace has created more demand for insurance professionals who can help companies achieve compliance and manage risk.

Consequently, the highest salaries in the financial services sector in Edinburgh include those for risk and compliance with salaries for senior operational risk managers commanding salary increases of 11.7 per cent and operational risk managers seeing increases of 9 per cent.

The need for more clearly defined administrative roles is set to continue in 2017 with specialists in telemarketing/telesales expected to reap the highest salary rises at 5.1 per cent, while customer services supervisors (4.5 per cent) and administrative assistants (4.4 per cent) will be rewarded for the part they play in retaining happy customers and driving new business. Over two in five (43 per cent) of Scottish HR directors expect to increase salaries for professional level employees in the year ahead.

Kris Flanagan, associate director – Scotland, Robert Half UK, said: “Productivity and growth are today’s mantras for Scottish businesses and the growing skills shortage is one of the key challenges for any organisation to overcome. While Edinburgh has one of the strongest economies within the UK, competition for the best people is intensifying. As this year’s guide demonstrates, salaries for hard to fill roles continue to rise and outpace the average salary by a significant margin.”

Mr Flanagan added: “Scotland, and Edinburgh in particular, is an attractive environment for skilled professionals and currently has an unemployment rate of just 4.6 per cent, just below the UK average of 4.9 per cent. This environment exacerbates the war for talent in the country, driving salaries higher and resulting in businesses struggling to recruit candidates with the skills and experience they need.

“As these businesses undergo their planning and recruitment strategies for 2017, they can turn to the latest Salary Guide to ensure they know where the salary hotspots are likely to be and whether they are paying top performers the salaries that competitors are likely to offer in the year ahead.”