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Survey Shows Wine Industry Wage Increases Above National Average

By Monday 29 July 2019April 5th, 2020No Comments

Wage increases in the Australian wine industry are higher than the national average wage increase (Wage Price Index). That’s according to the recent 2019 National Wine Industry Salary and Benefits Survey.

It’s just one statistic from the survey, released by the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA), which covers more than 1,900 employees from 39 companies across the Australian wine industry. The survey report provides a wealth of information on salary and benefits practices and trends across 57 common wine industry positions.

Incentive pay, including bonuses and commissions, continues to form a significant part of the remuneration package for a number of positions including sales representatives, chief winemakers, chief viticulturists and operations managers. For small businesses, however, incentive pay is less common.

The most commonly provided employee benefits include cars, fuel cards and professional subscriptions.

The 2019 survey is the 20th survey undertaken by SAWIA on behalf of the wine industry. The survey is driven by SAWIA’s Employee Relations Committee to ensure the industry can access relevant and up to date salary data and information about salary practices.

“Industry feedback is that the Salary Survey is critical to business planning practices and we will continue to deliver practical tools such as this to industry,” said SAWIA chief executive Brian Smedley.

“It’s part of our mission to provide leadership, advice and support to South Australian grape and wine businesses, to help them prosper.”

For the eighth year, the 2019 Salary and Benefits Survey includes a separate report for small business (with revenue of less than $10 million per annum) that includes key winemaking, viticulture and management positions and information.

You can order a copy of the 2019 National Wine Industry Salary and Benefits Survey here

Photo: Josef Chromy.

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