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Wage increases
This section presents analysis of how enterprises applied wage increases for employees in the absence of a significant change to an employee’s duties or responsibilities and how employees had attained wage increases.
Wage increases reported by enterprises
Enterprises were asked whether they used specific methods to determine wage increases and, if so, whether that method would be available to all, most or some employees.
Table 5.9 presents findings for each method used by enterprises. Just over three-quarters (77%) of enterprises reported using performance assessments to determine wage increases for employees and almost two-thirds (64%) indicated that they had implemented increases resulting from employee-initiated negotiations.
| Pre-determined adjustments such as through annual increases (%) |
Performance assessment (%) |
Negotiations initiated by employees (%) |
Other ways (%) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment size | ||||
| 5–19 employees | 57.5 | 75.6 | 63.9 | 5.0 |
| 20–199 employees | 73.5 | 81.3 | 67.2 | 4.5 |
| 200+ employees | 88.1 | 85.5 | 68.2 | 9.3 |
| Main method of setting pay | ||||
| Enterprise agreement | 83.7 | 69.8 | 56.9 | 4.7 |
| Award | 65.4 | 70.2 | 60.6 | 3.8 |
| Individual arrangement | 50.4 | 87.9 | 71.6 | 6.8 |
| All enterprises | 61.6 | 76.9 | 64.4 | 5.0 |
Source: AWRS 2014, Employee Relations and Enterprise Characteristics (Recruitment screener) survey.
Base = 3057 enterprises.
Access to wage increases reported by employees
As noted in Table 5.5, 43% of employees indicated that they had negotiated their pay rate with their employer. The AWRS also collected information about whether employees had sought to increase their wage/salary since they commenced their employment and how.
Table 5.10 demonstrates that almost one-third (28%) of employees indicated they had received a better wage without having to negotiate with their employer.
More males than females indicated that they had attempted (with or without success) to attain a better wage/salary through negotiation with their employer, with 19% of males indicating that they had attained a better wage without changing roles or had attempted to (2%) compared to 13% of females who had been successful or had unsuccessfully attempted this (2%).
Almost one-third (30%) of employees indicated that they had not attempted to attain a better wage/salary since they commenced their employment.
| Female (%) |
Male (%) |
All employees (%) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Received a better wage/salary without pursuing it | 27.3 | 29.7 | 28.4 |
| Successfully attained a better wage/salary through a promotion | 16.7 | 20.3 | 18.1 |
| Successfully attained a better wage/salary through negotiations with manager/employer (i.e. without changing roles) | 12.7 | 19.2 | 15.5 |
| Attempted to attain a better wage/salary though promotion, but was unsuccessful | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2.4 |
| Attempted to attain a better wage/salary in the same role, but was unsuccessful (e.g. request refused or ignored) | 6.9 | 7.6 | 7.2 |
| Have not attempted to attain a better wage/salary since commencement of employment with this employer | 33.8 | 25.6 | 30.3 |
| Have not attempted to get a promotion | 11.8 | 9.3 | 10.7 |
Source: AWRS 2014, Employee survey.
Base = 7525 respondents provided a response to the item asking if they had taken any action in regards to their salary/wages since they commenced in their current role. Columns will not add up to 100% as respondents were able to select more than 1 option.
As presented in Table 5.11, the most commonly reported reason for not pursuing a better wage or salary reported by employees who had not attempted to improve their wage since they commenced their employment was satisfaction with their wage/salary (33%).
| Female (%) | Male (%) | All employees (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfied with current wage/salary | 32.5 | 33.8 | 32.9 |
| Satisfied in current role | 23.7 | 24.7 | 24 |
| There is no process/procedure to be able to access a better wage to perform the role | 22.5 | 19.7 | 21.7 |
| Role not seen by manager/employer as worthy of a higher wage | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16 |
| Concerned about negative effects on relationship with manager/employer | 12.8 | 15 | 13.7 |
| New to role/still on probation | 10.5 | 10.1 | 10.4 |
| Waiting for a review to conclude | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Other | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
Source: AWRS 2014, Employee survey.
Base = 2617 employees provided a response to the item asking why they had not taken any action in regards to their salary/wages since they commenced in their current role. Columns do not add up to 100% as respondents' multiple responses were accepted.
Updated time
Last updated
25 February 2016
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