Salaries across advice largely flat: Hays

Hays’ latest salary guide, based on a survey of 8,863 professionals across Australia and New Zealand, has revealed that financial planning salaries have stagnated across the board.

Being the head of financial planning remains the highest paid role, the salary for a typical professional in this role is exactly the same in every major city. Individuals are earning an average of $230,000 in Sydney and $225,000 in Melbourne, followed by Brisbane at $205,000.

According to Hays, their Darwin-based peers remained the lowest paid at $148,000, with the other major cities seeing a range from $150,000 to $190,000.

The same trend was found in pay for financial planners, who still pocket an average of $120,000 in Sydney and $110,000 in both Melbourne and Perth.

Planners in Canberra, Brisbane and Hobart average $105,000, while Darwin again remained at the bottom of the pack on $95,000, alongside Adelaide.

Senior financial planners in Sydney remain the highest paid; however, this number is down $10,000 from last year’s figures to be in line with Perth at $150,000.

All other states were flat, with Melbourne-based senior planners remaining on $130,000, ahead of Brisbane and Canberra at $125,000. Adelaide and Darwin-based senior planners earned $110,000, while their Hobart peers pocketed an average $115,000.

One area that saw some growth was for paraplanners, with those based in Sydney taking home a typical salary of $95,000, and those employed in Melbourne receiving $90,000 – an increase of $5,000 in both cities compared with last year.

Perth-based paraplanners remained at $95,000, while those in Canberra sit at $90,000, Brisbane at $80,000 and Darwin still on the lowest salaries at $71,000.

The salary growth was even more pronounced among senior paraplanners, with Darwin and Hobart both seeing $13,000 jumps to $90,000. Those in Sydney are now earning $110,000, up $10,000, while senior paraplanners in Adelaide saw the same growth to reach $90,000.

The only major city that saw a reduction in senior paraplanner salary was Perth, with its $5,000 drop bringing it closer in line with the rest of the country, though still leading the pack, at $120,000.

According to Hays, in the year ahead, 86 per cent of organisations surveyed intend to offer pay rises; however, this is lower than the high of 95 per cent last year. The value of the salary increases is also expected to drop, with a 25 per cent reduction in the number of employers planning on offering a rise of more than 3 per cent to their staff.

“Salary is undoubtedly the most critical factor in attracting, rewarding, and retaining accounting and finance professionals today with 61 per cent of employers being prepared to offer above the standard package to secure a candidate,” Hays CEO APAC, Matthew Dickason said.

“But employers must also recognise that additional benefits are not just a bonus – they are a must. Benefits employers are offering this year to retain valuable employees include flexibility (60 per cent), professional development (46 per cent), and performance bonuses (31 per cent).”

Hays added that the “hybrid debate has been settled”, with 97 per cent of organisations offering a hybrid working model, either with a set or flexible schedule. This doesn’t seem likely to change, with 74 per cent reporting that they don’t expect their hybrid work offering to change in the year ahead.

On the employee side, 70 per cent of employees report that they are happy with the way they are currently working when considering days worked remotely compared with onsite.