Almost eight out of every 10 Australians surveyed are hoping to change jobs in the next year in a bid to increase their salary and alleviate cost-of-living pressures.
According to recruitment giant Hays' latest salary guide, 77 per cent of workers have either started looking for a new role or plan on doing so in the next 12 months.
After years of high inflation and interest rates, it's little surprise that the cost of living was the top reason causing people to seek new work.
Some of the other factors driving the trend were a lack of promotional chances, poor workplace culture, bad management, and changes in personal circumstances.
While the vast majority of employers (86 per cent) are planning on offering pay rises in upcoming reviews, the report says their offers are likely to fall short of workers' expectations.
"The mismatch between what employees want and what employers are willing to offer will play out over the next year, with almost 40 per cent of employees being dissatisfied with their salaries and 73 per cent saying it doesn't reflect their individual performance," Hays Asia-Pacific CEO Matthew Dickason said.
"We are seeing a trend of employees expecting higher salary increases over the past three Salary Guide reports.
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"In 2019, 67 per cent of employees expected a pay rise of less than three per cent.
"In just five years the pendulum has swung to 61 per cent of employees expecting a pay increase of more than three per cent."
One of the main considerations for employers who were planning to offer a raise was new pay transparency laws, with large organisations now required to publish their gender pay gap every year.
"When determining the value of a pay rise, employers' considerations have changed dramatically over the past 12 months, reflecting the current cost of living crisis and the new pay transparency laws," Dickason said.
"Individual performance remains the number one consideration for a pay increase (84 per cent).
"Other factors employers will consider include benchmarking for the role, responsibilities (74 per cent), expertise (53 per cent) and the organisation's performance (50 per cent)."
