AHRI Quarterly Australian Work Outlook
September 2023
This report is the second instalment in AHRI’s Quarterly Work Outlook series and draws on responses from 600+ senior business and HR decision-makers.
Like the previous quarter’s Work Outlook, this report examines recruitment intentions and challenges, employee turnover, redundancy intentions and pay intentions.
For this quarter’s focus topic, we’ve gathered sentiment around productivity, training and performance in Australian workplaces.
The report provides useful data for HR professionals, executives and boards to help inform key business decisions, and will act as a helpful tool for policy development and decision-making for federal and state government departments and other agencies.
Key Insights
Based on responses from 600+ senior business and HR decision-makers, AHRI has been able to paint a picture of the near future of the Australian labour market.
General insights
Hiring intentions remain relatively high
The AHRI Net Employment Intentions Index, which measures the difference between the proportion of employers expecting to increase staff levels and those expecting to decrease staff levels in the September quarter of 2023, is firmly in positive territory (+41). This is modestly lower than the June quarter (+45). We found that 44% of organisations plan to increase staff levels in the upcoming quarter, compared with just three percent that plan to reduce the size of their workforce over the same period
Turnover rates are slightly up
The 12-month employee turnover rate to the end of July 2023 is currently 14%, up from 12% in the previous quarter. Nearly a quarter (23%) of organisations report annual turnover of 20% and above, slightly higher than the 20 per cent figure reported in the 12 months to the end of April 2023.
Pay intentions
The mean basic pay increase in organisations (excluding bonuses) is expected to be 2.8% in the 12 months to July 2024. This is down from the 3.3% that was previously expected for the 12 months to April 2024.
Minimum wage increases
The main responses to the most recent increases to the National Minimum Wage are to raise prices (33%), raise productivity (29%) and take lower profits/absorb the cost (23%).
Productivity insights
The most effective measures perceived to improve productivity are flexible working arrangements (46%), performance-related pay and other increments (36%) and on-the-job training (33%).
Skills challenges
According to the survey respondents, on average, around one-fifth (20%) of employees are perceived to be “not fully proficient” in their job.
Improving productivity
To improve productivity, respondents are most likely to focus on training and development (45%), performance management (39%) and employee engagement (38%) over the next 12 months.
Training investment
Four in ten (40%) employers say training investment will increase at their organisation over the next 12 months, compared with just over a half (52%) who report it will stay the same.
Training activity
On average, 45% of Australian employees have undertaken internal training over the past year, and just over a quarter (26%) have undertaken external training during the same period.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Julie McNamara
Media Specialist, Mahlab
[email protected]
0419 595 688
