Recruiting and staff costs in Scotland

Businesses in Scotland enjoy savings in staff costs compared to places like London thanks to our lower business costs.

Scotland has a median gross annual salary of £27,710 and median gross weekly pay of £528. These are the fourth-highest rates for the nations and regions of the UK and are higher than the overall UK rates.*

At £14.72, Scotland also has the third-highest median hourly pay (excluding overtime) of the nations and regions of the UK, which is higher than the UK figure.*

*Source: Scottish Parliament, Earnings in Scotland 2022 opens in a new window  

The current National Minimum Wage opens in a new window rate for employees aged 23 and over is £10.42 per hour as of 1 April 2023. 

However, in Scotland we’re keen to promote a Real Living Wage opens in a new window of £10.90 an hour. It applies to all employees aged 18 and over and is now paid voluntarily by more than 3000 employers in Scotland. 

As well as salaries, you’ll need to pay pension contributions and employers’ national insurance per employee, as well as employers’ liability insurance. You’ll find more information in this government guide to hiring staff opens in a new window .

Recruiting highly skilled workers

There are several ways to recruit talented people for your business:

• Advertise your jobs online – top job sites include indeed.com opens in a new window , Reed.co.uk opens in a new window and s1jobs.com opens in a new window
• Advertise on your website or social media
• Advertise in specialist trade press, and local and national newspapers. Some are free, but fees vary according to the publication.
• Use a recruitment agency to handle the recruitment process for your business. They take care of everything – from advertising to co-ordinating interviews and negotiating offers. Their fees vary but are typically 15-25% of the successful candidate’s salary.
• Contact the career departments of colleges and universities in Scotland to find candidates for junior or trainee positions.
• Use JobCentre Plus – a government-run employment agency that may also be able to find candidates for you.

Support from TalentScotland

Scotland’s talent pool is rich and highly skilled – partly because of our excellent education system and thriving business ecosystem, but also because we welcome and actively seek to attract talented individuals from overseas.

If you’re thinking of widening your talent search to international pools, TalentScotland may be able to help. Their team helps growing companies and investors find, recruit, and keep skilled international talent. They can provide fast, easy access to skilled job seekers who are already interested in coming to Scotland as a career destination.

Get support from TalentScotland 

Attracting talent to Scotland

If you decide to look for talent overseas, then you're in luck. Scotland offers many benefits that can help persuade people to make a career move, including:

• Unrivalled opportunities to work in top industries
• Good working practices and conditions, including generous annual leave, flexible working, workplace pensions and a state pension
• A lifestyle to suit everyone, from cosmopolitan cities to tranquil towns
• Excellent transport systems, short commutes and good travel connections to the rest of the world
• An enviable standard of living – less expensive than many other areas in the UK
• Free healthcare
• Stunning scenery
• Excellent schools and renowned universities
• A safe place to live
• Plenty of activities outside of work, from sports and music to arts, culture and more

As well as this, you can choose to offer your own perks and benefits to make your company more attractive. This might include additional annual leave, childcare vouchers, private healthcare, flexible working policies and enhanced parental leave.

But don’t take our word for it – explore our real life stories from people who have already made the move to Scotland to live and work.

Read our real life success stories