Pay rise continues to be discussed in a recent article by the AFR. When compared to two years ago, junior accountants are getting paid 28 percent more, while senior accountants are offered a 55 percent pay increase. The upper end of salary ranges has continued to escalate and shows no sign of slowing down in the near future.
The same article also mentioned that accounting giants have lost its appeal for many accountants. Young professionals appear to be gravitating to less stressful work situations and shorter commutes following COVID. As a result, Australia is seeing more workers moving away from big cities and residing in smaller cities and rural areas.
That said, the labour market has deteriorated even more and accounting firms are breaking the bank in the effort to secure staff.
So what is wrong with offering higher pay during labour shortage?
To begin with, it is a short-term remedy. Many experts predict that, even with border openings, Australia’s labour need will persist for another 3 to 5 years. With that in mind, mid-tier and small firms won’t be able to continuously offer staff and candidates greater compensation that long. Not to add, wage inflation only worsens as firms continue to press for higher pay.
Secondly, even with higher pay, firms cannot 100% secure staff. Amid the wage inflation, job hopping is on the rise, professionals are quitting for higher pay companies. Moreover, when there is understaffing going on within a business, current staff has to work extra hour to keep up with the client demands. That leads to burnout and even more quitting.
At the end of the day, firms are only paying more for less.
What can accounting firm owners do now?
Outsource – the most reasonable answer to labour shortage!
Outsource is the immediate solution to capacity problem. Not only firms can clear up backlogs and take on more jobs from their clients, they can also free up local staff for the higher value added work. All of which will improves business efficiency and provides continuity.
Meanwhile, by outsourcing, firms gain access to a wider pool of experts outside of Australia. The knowledge, experience, and skills that would otherwise take lots of time and money to acquire can now be obtained whenever needed at a constant and reasonable cost.
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