In early February, SARNZ conducted a wage survey to help gain some insight into the industry due to the business seeing significant changes across all fronts. We have faced large economic changes and effects from Covid, to government changes and also standard living costs rising significantly again in the last 6 months. Members have been requesting updated information on industry with the previous survey being in 2019, many things have changed in the past three years.
Due to the changes above, we can see all the figures have moved in an upward direction. You can see the results from our 2019 wage survey in the Winter 2019 Platform. It is also key to note that these figures have been taken before minimum wage in New Zealand is set to increase from 1 April 2022. Read more about the minimum wage increase on Employment New Zealand's website.
For the survey data, we have presented these in two ways, nationally and regionally to provide as much information as possible to help industry make informed decisions around wages. Regional results, we have categorized them into Auckland, Wellington, and All Other Regions. This is due to the sample size of regions outside of Auckland and Wellington not being large enough on their own, but sufficient together.
We have seen some interesting trends through this data collection. Despite the larger centers, Auckland and Wellington, paying higher wages across the levels of skills and experience, the smaller regions tend to offer much better additional benefits.
An average of 77% of Other Regions offer penal rates (e.g. paid overtime) to their employees, compared to 50% for Auckland, and 70% for Wellington.
We have seen in this new age of working that pay isn’t always the key reason for employees choosing a workplace and it shows in numbers of business having incentive schemes in place for employees. 43% of smaller regions are providing some sort of incentive schemes, while Auckland and Wellington came behind at 29% and 24% respectively. All Other Regions also take the lead at 83% offering to cover training fees, a 33% increase over Auckland and Wellington (who both sat at 50%).
It's something worthwhile to note for employees and employers alike.
For employees it means that often the salary or wage isn’t all that workplaces can offer, so it's worth discussing how else they might be able to invest in you, such as paid training, or penal rates.
For employers it shows that there is an uptake in areas offering additional benefits where the salary or wage can't match the larger regions. See our article 'Ways to improve your workplace culture' - how you can use non-financial ways to entice and retain employees.
Overall, the average pay across the regions is fairly consistent. The general trend of the highest paying region being Auckland, followed by Wellington, and then All Other Regions, is expected. But it was a great to see that Other Regions are generally taking the lead at offering additional employment benefits.
The results are for scaffolding only as we did not receive enough responses to be able to display any results for Rigging or Rope Access. By completing the survey you're helping us understand the employment landscape in the industry as it currently is.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XSTQ88R - Rigging
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XRK7H2Z - Rope Access
We are partnered with Employsure, who provide advice for small business on employees and health and safety. If you think you might want some support for your small business, please contact Employsure and let them know if you are a SARNZ member.
