2025 Salary Survey: business services market trends

The roles we group under ‘Business Services’ aren’t about raising funds or raising profile, but about delivering an organisation’s work – including operational staff at all levels, project managers, programme leaders and all the admin, data and support staff in less visible roles that are nonetheless essential to getting things done.

So what’s happening in the recruitment market for those working in these areas?

Here’s what our specialists had to say in our 2025 Salary Survey.

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​​Market trends

Salaries make a difference of course, but in these areas, the factor with the biggest influence on application numbers is location.

Fully remote roles are highly-prized but relatively rare, simply because it’s rarely practical for those involved in day-to-day operations and service delivery to be based off-site. While this limits potential applicants to those within commuting distance like, say, just about any pre-2020 job, it’s not currently presenting major recruitment challenges due to the rising number of candidates available.

However such is the appeal of remote positions that we’re starting to see some senior candidates prepared to consider a pay cut in order to land one, or even just for the security of a stable, full-time permanent role.

‘No-one’s looking for long-term commitment these days’ might be the cry of disgruntled daters, but in 2025 it’s perhaps just as likely to come from jobseekers, given the many once-permanent roles now offered only on a temporary basis.

They’re accompanied by more part-time and job-share positions than we’ve seen for many a year, suggesting that charities are increasingly open to any means of covering key functions without inflating the full-time, permanent payroll. If necessity is the mother of invention, desperation is apparently the father of dropping your previous objections and giving it a go.

That’s also evident in the growing number of charities currently experimenting with a four-day working week, an idea that certainly has plenty of fans among the workforce.

As there’s typically no reduction in salary this isn’t a cost-saving measure, but the evidence from trials to date has shown, perhaps counterintuitively, that a shorter week can actually increase productivity, while giving organisations an unbeatable means of attracting and retaining talent, which is well worth having when salaries leave something to be desired.

Where the opportunities are now

A troubled economy and widespread sector redundancies have created more competition for fewer vacancies than we’ve seen for several years, replacing the challenge of finding a strong six-person shortlist with the difficulty of narrowing it down to a number that could fit on a bus.

However there are still plenty of opportunities open for those with data, IT or monitoring and evaluation experience, in particular.

We’ve also seen more openings for those who can deliver transformation, both in the data/digital sense and in HR, where it’s generally code for restructuring: those dedicated workers won’t fire themselves, you know.

New opportunities are also being created where last year’s big trend for rolling two jobs into one (think Head of Finance & Resources) has collided with the reality that in many cases, the two halves require very different skills that rarely co-exist in one person, resulting in the role splitting back into separate positions.

Meanwhile, relatively little has changed with regard to another of last year’s trends: the growth of inclusive recruitment practices like sharing interview questions in advance, for the benefit of those who may struggle on the spot.

While this hasn’t declined, there’s been little further progress either - although perhaps we should count ourselves lucky that, on this side of the Atlantic at least, considering the needs of different groups has yet to be deemed unlawful.

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​For more on the market, or if you'd like our help with a recruitment issue in one of these areas, please contact our specialists Lizzy Clark or Giuseppe Di Maria who'll be delighted to assist.

Meanwhile you can find all the figures for all departments in the full 2025 Salary Survey here, or for any other queries just contact our specialists, call us on 020 7820 7300 or email info@harrishill.co.uk ​​

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