Salaries for In-Demand Skills to Hold Firm

The Morgan McKinley Irish Salary Guide was due for release earlier this year but, due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, its release was postponed to allow time to assess the initial impact this crisis is likely to have on salaries for the remainder of 2020.

While there have been immediate adverse effects to many industry sectors such as retail, travel and tourism, aviation and construction resulting in temporary lay-offs, subsidies, pay-cuts etc, many of the displaced in-demand skills from these sectors have been absorbed into better-performing sectors. Strong talent has never been more sought after than in a crisis and for this reason salaries for in-demand skills are predicted to hold firm with some salaries likely to continue their pre-COVID-19 to realise increases of up to 4% on average.

Irish owned Morgan McKinley is a global professional recruitment and talent management company, connecting specialist talent with leading employers across multiple industries and disciplines. The annual salary guide, now in its tenth year, also provides an average outline of anticipated remuneration by sector, based on the most up to date figures and trends noted at the end of 2019.

Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director, Morgan McKinley Ireland, said:

“The coronavirus has shaken Ireland and the world to its core, testing healthcare and welfare systems, our societies and economies and our way of living and working together. The outbreak has infiltrated our lives with language such as ‘social distancing’, ‘asymptomatic’, ‘quarantine’, and ‘PPE’ becoming the new normal. Ireland, as with other countries, faces enormous challenges.

“Prior to the pandemic, while the economy was thriving, we were in a historically buoyant, candidate-driven market. That demand for talent has now levelled out. The coronavirus has forced businesses to curtail operations or shutter entirely. While March and April saw a surge in unemployment amidst widespread labour market disruption, we have now reached a point where the dramatic rise in unemployment is levelling off. Although the Irish economy has been relatively slow to restart compared to other countries, following a strict lockdown, restrictions on activity have now been eased faster than initially anticipated.

“Covid-19 has impacted the way businesses operate like never before, and while some businesses are under serious pressure, others are seeing unprecedented demand for their products or services. The talent that was in strong demand prior to Covid-19, such as software engineers, IT auditors, cybersecurity experts and data and analytics professionals, continues to be sought after and we expect these to still command the upper end of the salary range. In some cases, companies will see the current uncertainty as an opportunity to recruit talent previously locked up in other companies.

“Business sectors that have been performing positively throughout the crisis have included Pharma, MedTech, Healthcare, Payments, E-Learning, Gaming, the Public Sector, and home entertainment. Disciplines such as supply chain and technology remain largely ‘bullet-proof’. As a direct impact of Covid-19 and ongoing Brexit uncertainty before that, demand for all levels of supply chain and procurement professionals also shows no signs of abating.

“We have seen some early indicators of salary appreciation in pockets of the pharma manufacturing sector where operatives have been financially incentivised because of the risks of Covid-19. This has varied from a 10% to 50% uplift in hourly pay and as a minimum, pay has remained stable for this cohort of talent.

“In the Financial Services sector, the picture is a little more mixed. The demand for fund accountants, compliance, asset management and insolvency professionals remains strong. Salary levels may grow marginally in these positions, around 10%, to entice and reflect the risk a professional is taking to leave their current position to join another employer in the current environment. On the contrary, the drop in demand for retail banking professionals and contraction of hiring is expected to see a drop in salaries in the region of 15%.

“Salaries and employment in the areas of Office Support have also been impacted, not least because of the immediate move to remote working of most workforces. As a result, we anticipate a 5 to 15% drop in salaries across this discipline over the coming months.

“The Covid-19 economic crisis has also hit young people harder and faster than any other group. Covid-19 has seen employers reduce or call time on internship programmes and produced a reluctance to commit to hiring graduates with no experience. For this reason, we expect entry-level salaries to drop or stabilise in the immediate term.

“Ireland has also relied heavily on importing some key skills in the areas of IT, Technology and Engineering to meet the demand from the growing ecosystem of multinationals expanding and setting up operations here. Current travel restrictions will hamper global talent migration into Ireland in the near term, driving employers to consider locally based talent until such constraints are lifted.

“Overall, Covid-19 will have a profound impact on future economic activities. As we move into a cautious easement of lockdown conditions with no imminent widespread treatment or vaccination, it is likely that we will have to learn to manage under the threat of recurring restrictions for the foreseeable future. As a result, we can no longer consider Covid-19 to be unprecedented as we move forward. This is, for the time being, our new normal.

“We can, therefore, expect a blended approach from employers to remote and office-based working, offsetting the convenience, reduced overheads, and social connectivity benefits, which both clearly offer. To stay agile, enterprises should also seize new market opportunities to achieve business transformation and stabilise their core business.

“We cannot predict the future, but we can put policies in place to try and prepare for the unknown and to position Ireland for growth over the longer term. 2020 is a year that will require strong leadership from government, industry leaders and policymakers to ensure that we can successfully retain and grow the hard-won investments Ireland has achieved over the last decade,” said Trayc Keevans of Morgan McKinley.

Remuneration Tables can be found here.