Staying put

BUCKING the trend of recent years, employees working in Australia’s small companies are increasingly choosing to stay with their employers.

With voluntary staff turnover rates plummeting to 9 per cent per annum, from 12.7 per cent in the previous year, the trend is set to continue, according to the nation’s leading survey of salaries and human resources trends.

In fact, The Australian Institute of Management’s (AIM) National Salary Survey 2009 found that there will be less opportunity for staff to move between small companies in the foreseeable future, with only around one-third (34.2 per cent) of small companies expecting to increase permanent staff numbers over the next 12 months, down significantly from 67.3 per cent in the previous year.

The survey revealed signs of further negative fallout from the global economic downturn, with annual salaries rising by 4.6 per cent in the 2008/2009 year (down from 5.2 per cent in the previous year). This downward trend is set to continue into the foreseeable future, with small companies forecasting wage movements for 2009/2010 at only 4.1 per cent.