How many employers plan to give raises in 2024?

Not all business leaders are planning to give staff an increase in the coming year, according to a new report.

A survey among 600 business leaders by ResumeBuilder.com found that only 74% will offer employees a raise in 2024, including 14% of them who said everyone will be getting an increase.

According to the report, half of those planning to offer a raise said up to 50% of employees will get one.

Stacie Haller, chief career advisor, warned employers of the potential backlash from this move.

"Giving raises to some employees and not others fuels resentment within an organisation," Haller said in a statement. "Employees talk to each other and information spreads quickly through an organisation. Everyone wants to be treated equally."

Will there be equal treatment?

But equal treatment might not be the potential case next year as the survey found that more business leaders believe it was more important to give raises to mid-, senior-, and executive-level employees than those who are at the entry-level.

Haller said this was "not a good business move for business leaders."

"Last year, CEOs were on average paid 273 times as much as their employees, and this is just not equitable. The result is or will be workers revolting against this inequality," Haller said.

The career advisor pointed out that it's now easier for employees to "understand their worth" in the market with salary guides spreading across the internet.

"There still is a war for talent in many industries and in these industries, candidates have other employment options if they do not feel they are valued. At a minimum employees expect a cost-of-living increase, and without it they will leave," she said.

Cost-of-living adjustment

The findings come as more employees across the world are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

In the UK, employees are taking more hours at work, asked for a pay rise, and asked employers for help or wellbeing support to help them remain afloat.

The latest findings from ResumerBuilder said 69% of employers planning to give raises will be for cost-of-living adjustments, with 27% of them saying the increase will be five per cent or more.

Another 28% of the respondents said the adjustment will be four per cent. Others reported:

• Three per cent increase (32%)
• Two per cent increase (11%)
• One per cent or less increase (2%)

The International Labour Organisation since 2022 has called on organisations to make appropriate adjustments to employee wages amid the cost-of-living crisis across the world.

"Adequate adjustments of wages, including the minimum wage, are needed that would help significantly to improve the living standards of low-income households in the current cost-of-living crisis," ILO director-general Gilbert Houngbo previously said.