Johannesburg - Despite being surrounded by bad news at home and globally, a new survey of South African business executives, released yesterday, recorded much better sentiment than a year ago on prospects for personal earnings and bonuses, as well as business growth next year.
The annual bonus and salary survey by Jack Hammer, which is rated one of the top three executive search firms in the country, found that South Africa’s top executives were confident they would be fairly compensated in terms of year-end bonuses and salary increases next year, despite the current political and economic turmoil in the country.
“The findings of this year’s survey are significant, given that the prevailing sentiment in the country seems to be one of doom and gloom in the face of a mooted ratings downgrade, and with the economic growth forecast revised downward to 0.5 percent from an already low 0.9 percent in February,” said Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, the chief executive of Jack Hammer.
She added that it appeared as if business leaders were starting to find equilibrium in the context of uncertainty and turbulence, and were adapting, even thriving, despite external pressures.
Turbulence
The 2016 Bonus and Salary survey polled senior executives and managers in various sectors, including retail, financial services and manufacturing, about their expectations on bonuses, salary increases and business growth next year.
In last year’s survey, 50 percent of leaders expected to receive bonuses at least in line with previous years. This year, 77 percent of leaders expected the same.
“This is significantly more positive and, interestingly, there were no big differences between industry sectors,” Goodman-Bhyat said.
At 82 percent, a significant majority of respondents indicated that they expected at least an inflation-linked increase next year, up from 71 percent last year.
Few respondents expected little or no increase. Only 12 percent of respondents indicated that business was really bad, with no growth prospects at all. The majority, at 65 percent, were of the view that business was solid, albeit tough.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY