50% of Malaysian bosses polled plan to raise salaries this year

A survey by recruiting specialist Hays has revealed that Nearly half of the employers polled in Malaysia were expected to increase staff salaries by 3% to 6% in the next review period. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 2, 2016. Nearly half of the employers polled in Malaysia were expected to increase staff salaries by 3% to 6% in the next review period, while only 4% said they did not plan to raise wages, revealed a survey by recruiting specialist Hays.

More than 3,000 employers were polled in the 2016 Hays Asia Salary Guide across China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, representing 6 million employees to find out salary and recruiting trends.

In Malaysia, 11% of employers are planning salary increases of up to 3%, while 29% are planning to raise salaries by 6% to 10%.

Ten percent of Malaysian employers are expected to give a raise of more than 10% to their employees.

In terms of actual increases awarded during last year's review, 50% of employers in Malaysia raised salaries by 3% to 6% while 24% raised it by 6% to 10 %.

For salary increases of more than 10%, Hays found that 8% of Malaysian employers actually did so.

Six percent of employers, however, did not give any salary increases last year.

Hays Asia managing director Christine Wright said most employers are expected to tread carefully on salary this year to help navigate business and economic conditions.

Bonuses and benefits would be additional ways they could reward staff without inflating salary budgets.

“In saying that, nearly all employers are expecting to feel an impact from skill shortages this year, which could put upward pressure on salaries in some areas. About a third of employers told us they don’t have the right talent needed to meet current business objectives," Wright said.

Meanwhile, 63% of employers across all five countries intend to award bonuses to their staff but only 10% of them said bonuses were guaranteed in their companies.

Almost all, 95% of employers said that bonuses would depend on the company's performance while 92% said that it was based on individual performance.

In terms of value of bonuses, 33% of employers intend to give their staff up to 10% of salary as bonus while 44% plan to give between 11% and 50% of the salary in bonuses.

Ten percent of employers plan to award 100 % of staff salary as bonus. – March 2, 2016.