A new survey has revealed a significant discrepancy between the benefits offered by Scottish employers and what jobseekers rate most highly when looking for a new office support role.
According to the Hays Office Support Salary & Benefits Guide 2014, 76% of employers offer key office professionals – include everybody from personal assistants and executive assistants to office administrators – a contributory pension as part of a benefits package, followed by 60% offering childcare vouchers.
However, when these jobseekers were asked which benefits they rated most highly when considering a new role, only 35% said a pension was important, with 20% citing flexible working as being the second most desirable benefit. Only 2% mentioned childcare vouchers as being important.
“This difference between what employers are offering and the ideal ‘wish list’ of benefits is quite startling,” said Roddy Adair, director of office support for Hays in Scotland, the recruiting experts behind the survey.
“Employers should take note, because as the jobs market is now improving, so are people’s expectations of what constitutes good benefits from an employer.
“For example, the report really underlines how people are rating flexibility and work-life balance above things like pensions and generous sick pay. And while performance-related bonuses were offered by 38% of employers, only 8% of employees thought this was desirable, with more than 25 days’ annual leave being rated as more important.
“Office support professionals who were previously happy to stay in a secure job are now beginning to look elsewhere for career progression. In order to attract the best talent, employers really need to re-think their benefits packages. Sick pay, which was once considered to be important, if not vital, is now a pretty low motivator for anybody considering a new role.”
Office support professionals were among the first to be hit by the recession, but many organisations (39%) are expecting to recruit more permanent staff in the next year, and expect them to take on more commercial responsibility.
Scotland has seen growth in SME appointments as confidence continues to return to the market and, although salaries have remained steady over the past year, candidates with specific skills such as diary management, events organisation and advanced IT skills are now beginning to achieve higher salaries. Pay in Aberdeen, in particular, has risen across all sectors, with the oil and gas industry continuing to offer a premium as demand outweighs supply.
Changes in the public sector have created additional opportunities for PAs, including demand for longer-term interim roles. This is particularly the case in Glasgow and Edinburgh where there is also demand for high level executive assistants who can manage complex diaries and act as an ambassador for the senior executive they are supporting.
“Although many office support professionals say they now feel more secure in their jobs, over half (57%) of our respondents said they expect to move jobs within a year,” Mr Adair added.
“Employers need to work harder to fill important positions and focus more on what they’re offering – which should be more than simply an increase in salary.”