More engineers are resigning, says survey

In-Depth

More people in the engineering sector are resigning, while employees at all levels have received the seventh highest industry pay rise, according to the 2007 National Management Salary Survey conducted by the Chartered Management Institute and Remuneration Economics.

A survey of 42,205 individuals across all sectors showed that the number of resignations in engineering has increased from 1.1 per cent to 6.2 per cent, despite a 4.2 per cent average salary increase. The survey also reported that managers in the engineering sector earned an average of £39,457, compared to the average UK salary of £47,440. Only charity sector managers earned less at £37,456.

Engineering sector executives, however, did see an average of £8,390 bonuses, up from £7,999 last year.

Despite the increase in number of resignations, the engineering industry did not suffer quite as much as retail, which had an 11 per cent rate, but it did not do as well as the food and drinks sector, which had the least number at 3.8 per cent.

In addition, the results of the survey showed that 81 per cent of businesses had recruitment difficulties, as well as signs that more organisations were making an effort to retain employeees by offering more fringe benefits, such as 57 per cent offering life insurance.

‘The steep climb in organisations reporting recruitment difficulties, mixed with an increasing number of resignations should be ringing alarm bells for employers,’ said Jo Causon, director of marketing and corporate affairs at the Chartered Management Institute. ‘The marketplace is clearly tipping in favour of the employee, so if they are serious about retaining the best talent, organisations urgently need to meet the needs and expectations of their staff.’

A number of reasons were cited for the recruitment difficulties faced by organisations in all sectors, including a lack of qualified candidates (73.2 per cent), competition from other organisations (68.4 per cent), little opportunities for training or career development (51 per cent) and job insecurity caused by restructuring (27 per cent).

The sector that saw the highest pay rise was HR, at 5.9 per cent, and the lowest was earned by the transport and logistics sector, at 2.6 per cent.