By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Small business owners should brace themselves to pay staff on average 3 per cent more in 2022, as employers face a shortage in staff.
Hospitality businesses are particularly badly affected with staff shortages due to the double whammy of Brexit and Covid.
Employers plan to increase pay by an average of 2.9 per cent next year, according to a survey by advisory, broking and solutions company Willis Towers Watson. That would bring pay growth back to a level not hit since 2019 when wages were at last beginning to rise after a decade.
>See also: Can I pay remote workers less than in-house staff?
Paul Richards, data analyst at WTW, said that firms were competing for the best staff.
“As the Covid-19 threat starts to recede and the economy starts to recover, we’re seeing significant year-on-year improvements in pay rises,” Richards said. “Employees in some industries are faring better than others, but these are often the industries that were hardest hit by the pandemic, such as leisure and hospitality.
“Overall the outlook for salaries is strong as businesses start planning budgets for 2022, and many are keen to retain top performing