Key Points
- Employee turnover which occurred at a rate of 21.4 per cent in 2022, fell to 10.8 per cent at the start of 2024.
- Organisations are now more focused on managing costs and optimising their existing workforce rather than aggressively pursuing new hires.
- Overall salary increases have remained steady at 4 per cent in 2024.
New data on the Australian workforce could suggest the great resignation may be winding down, at least here in Australia, anyway.
Findings from Mercer’s Total Remuneration Survey published as part of its Australian Salary Outlook 2025 suggest employees are looking for job stability in uncertain times and are “less inclined to jump ship”.
The pandemic prompted many workers to put , resulting in more people leaving their jobs, with employee turnover peaking at 21.4 per cent in 2022, a phenomenon economists called the great resignation.
However there was a notable decline in employee turnover, in 2023, with the figure falling to 18.6 per.
The shift downwards continued into 2024, with the average turnover rate for the first half of the year just 10.8 per cent.
The outlook stated that workers were now increasingly seeking security in their roles, “organisations are finding themselves in a new landscape where retention takes precedence over recruitment”.
Employers have also noticed decreases in their staff turnover, with 42 per cent planning to maintain the same headcount going forward.
“With employee retention strengthening, the urgency to seek external talent has diminished and, coupled with a subdued economy, organisations are now more focused on managing costs and optimising their existing workforce rather than aggressively pursuing new hires,” the report stated.
At the same time, the labour market is rebalancing, with job vacancies dropping to 2.2 per cent, which is the lowest it has been in more than three years.
According to the report, “Employers are now more confident in their ability to manage employee turnover, with nearly 64 per cent reporting they feel in control of turnover levels, a notable increase from 55 per cent in 2023,” the highest level of confidence in four years.
The survey found overall salary increase budget remained steady at 4 per cent in 2024 and that it is forecast to remain steady at that rate in 2025.
The report not only looked at salary budgets and forecasts, but salary movements by industry.
While the labour market may be leaning in favour of employers, those in certain industries have seen significant salary growth in the past year.
While salary increases remained steady at about 4 per cent for Australians on average over the past year, those in some fields including certain science related roles experienced far greater wages growth. Source: Getty / Tom Werner
Salaries for ‘entry professional’ science roles such as chemist, product research scientist and hydrologist had increased by almost 20 per cent.
The report put this down to certain related skills being in “short supply.”
