Salary growth is expected to moderate, yet a significant proportion of employer's plan increases in the 6-10% range.

This outcome surprised us and, in our view, reflects continued pressure within specialist segments despite broader pay stabilisation. Scarce roles including ESG specialists, experienced tax advisors, finance transformation professionals and data-literate auditors continue to command targeted increases.

We know that some employers in banking and also in energy used retention bonuses to secure analytics expertise, while professional services firms incentivised sustainability, reporting skills.

We believe compensation strategies in 2026  will remain selective and increasingly supplemented by bonuses and benefits.