Candidates' market tests retailers

NATIONAL: A dearth of candidates has forced fashion retailers to be increasingly flexible in attracting and retaining staff, a recent retail salary survey has found.

Conducted by retail recruitment specialist Frontline - over a third of whose clients are in the fashion retail sector - the Frontline Retail Salary Survey 2007 covered Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, South Western Australia, Wollongong and Darwin.

Frontline managing director Peter Davis said overall the survey - which included research into staff incentives - reflected a "war for talent" resulting from a candidate poor market.

"For clients it means attraction and retention have become priorities for most businesses," he said, adding companies had been forced to be increasingly flexible on overall packages, candidate experience and the consideration of transferable skills across sectors.

While Sydney, Perth and Brisbane witnessed some growth in salaries in all positions, Sydney's result - with store managers in $4 to $5 million turnover stores earning between $45,000 to $59,000 - showed a higher average than other cities in line with a higher cost of living.

Melbourne Frontline franchisee Sarah Vockler said Perth and Brisbane's growth reflected the mining led economic boom and candidate shortage respectively, while candidate supply meant salary levels in the Victorian capital were lower than both Sydney and Brisbane.

"[Retailers] still want to pay $33,000 for an assistant manager at a centre such as Highpoint or Knox and even in the city it's just too low," she said.

Meanwhile in Adelaide, despite lower average salaries than other capital cities, an acute shortage of candidates had made retailers more willing to negotiate salaries and add-ons including ongoing career paths and training to attract good staff.

However despite the fact that retailers were working harder to attract candidates by offering more flexible packages, Davis said salaries themselves had experienced less-than-expected rises overall.

"It is actually surprising how little salaries have gone up in the period, but this may be because of larger macro economic issues."

It was based on around 5700 randomly selected candidates who had applied for positions with Frontline over the past 12 months, with store managers as the most senior position surveyed. Salary data was based on actual salaries for candidates placed during the period and their salaries in most recent prior positions. 

By Belinda Smart