The report – which surveyed over 200 employers across Sydney – suggests a continuing gradual improvement in both salaries and permanent and temporary hiring intentions throughout the second half of 2010.

Following the events of 2009, where administrative and business support positions were widely cut across many industries, employers have remained hesitant throughout the first half of 2010 but are now emerging more confident as business sentiment improves.
Demonstrating just how gradual the recovery has been to date, close to 20 per cent of employers surveyed were still reducing business support headcount over the last six months, while in the professional services sector this figure rose to over 30 per cent of employers.

More encouraging, however, is employers’ hiring intentions for the next six months. Close to 35 per cent of employers intend to bolster their business support headcount and very few are expecting further cuts to existing headcount. The property, construction and engineering industries – hard hit by the economic downturn – continue to bounce back in 2010; 50 per cent of employers within these industries intend to add to existing headcount in the next six months.
Salaries, too, look set to move; nearly 55 per cent of employers predict increases to staff salaries in the next six months. While the demand for freelance and contract business support staff is also predicted to improve, the Market Eye suggests skill set requirements for business support staff have changed. Broad-skilled, versatile employees are increasingly in demand, reflecting the fact organisations are now asking more from their support staff as they seek to control costs through working with leaner teams.
The 2010 Market Eye also looked, for the first time, at staff retention strategies from both an employer and employee perspective. While employers believed internal training was their number one retention strategy, employees rated this third, preferring instead career development and flexible work practices.
Aquent & Eloquent Staffing Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand, Simon Lusty, said the Eloquent Staffing Market Eye points towards a market firmly in recovery mode following the challenges of the past 18 months.
“Whilst the market has been slow to recover, it is good to see that employer confidence is improving,” he said.
“Roles within this sector took a beating over the past 18 months but as the market has begun to improve, it has become clear that good business support staff remains important and we expect this gradual improvement to continue throughout 2010.”
The Eloquent Staffing Market Eye survey was carried out via face-to-face, email and telephone interviews by Eloquent Staffing consultants between Monday 26 April and Friday 21 May 2010. Data was analysed by five major industry categories: creative/advertising/design, banking and finance, property, construction and engineering and professional services while respondents not fitting into these categories were analysed in a category named ‘Other’.
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About Eloquent Staffing
Eloquent Staffing www.eloquentstaffing.com.au is an international boutique business support recruitment agency. It offers a specialist approach to business support recruitment, selecting only 10 percent of the hundreds of screened talent to ensure only the highest-quality candidates. Eloquent Staffing was previously a business support division within Aquent, launched in 2004. The division’s rapid growth and success since that time prompted Aquent to establish Eloquent Staffing as its own separate entity. Eloquent Staffing has offices in Sydney and London.