The top 3 industries competing for employees

Cape Town - Tech, real estate and manufacturing top the competitive list of industries vying for talent, according to the 2018 Compensation Best Practices Report by American company PayScale.

South African companies took part in the latest survey.

The report defines competitive jobs as those that can be hard to fill because they are in high demand. Tough-to-fill jobs are defined as those that are open for six months or longer and are often related to a skills gap or other shortage of labour.

For the past few years, tech roles have topped the survey list of tough-to-fill jobs (26% of respondent companies), while skilled trades came in second (23%).

A staggering 70% of respondents from the construction industry said skilled tradespeople were the toughest-to-fill jobs. Half of manufacturing industry respondents also struggle to fill skilled tradespeople jobs.

In tough-to-fill roles, once organisations find a suitable employee – following a search lasting six months or more - they must then try to retain them. According to the report, 59% of organisations fear losing their hard-won "talent". Retention, therefore, tops the list of reasons organisations adjust their compensation strategy.

• READ: South Africans' take-home pay declines - report

Pay brand

"At PayScale, we know that organisations with a strong pay brand have more satisfied employees and smaller gaps in perception between employees and management when it comes to key workplace issues," the report states.

It defines a pay brand as what people say to each other at a cocktail party about the rewards (and culture of rewards) at an organisation and what it’s like to work there.

"In order to build your pay brand, you’ll need to have a compensation strategy, evaluate your pay to the market and be intentional about the rewards you give out to your employees," the report states.

"To build a good pay brand, you need to communicate to employees that you’re paying fairly and you are concerned with pay equity in your organisation. Paying everyone fairly doesn’t mean paying everyone the same."

The report suggests having a defined way of rewarding the things that matter most to the organisation, like performance, experience and critical skills.

"It turns out that one of the best ways to show employees that you care about paying fairly is to reward high performers," the report concludes.

* Sign up to Fin24's top news in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TO FIN24 NEWSLETTER