Software developers and engineers are the biggest winners in the hot talent market where some technology salaries have increased by more than 45 per cent in the last six months and counter offers have become commonplace.
The value of counter offers has increased from the range of $5000 to $10,000 to $30,000 to $35,000, recruitment firm Talent’s latest salary survey found.
“The highest we’ve seen is candidates offered $100,000 more than their current annual salary so they don’t leave,” Matthew Munson, the managing director for Talent in NSW.
“People have gone from $150,000 to 250,000 per year, which is just unheard of.”
The largest salary increases were for roles related to writing software, Mr Munson said.
For example, the average salary for CRM software developers who specialise in Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics increased more than 51 per cent to a high of $210,000.
Salaries increased 47 per cent for senior developers with skills in the common software programming language java, to a high of $205,000.
The head of product, who has ownership of digital products and services, had the highest average annual salary of $280,000, an increase of 22 per cent compared to six months prior, the report found.
But the salary rises are occurring throughout the technology workforce.
On average technology salaries for permanent roles in Australia increased by 26 per cent over the six months from June to December 2021, the survey found.
Talent places around 1000 professionals in permanent placements and 3000 to 4000 contractors in technology roles each year.
Mr Munson said it was “unprecedented” that the salaries for most roles covered by the survey had increased by more than 10 per cent in the second half of 2021.
“I’ve never seen that in my 17 years in recruitment. I’ve never seen anything like that in one year, let alone six months,” he said.
“You’ve had this perfect storm where there are a lot fewer candidates available and a lot more demand and therefore people have been outbidding each other in the war for talent.”
Before the pandemic around one in 10 candidates would receive a counter offer from their current employer to entice them to stay, Mr Munson said. That has now increased to one in every two or three offers.