If you work in IT and have been thinking about asking your boss for that next pay rise – the time is now.

Recruitment company Hays has revealed 92% of IT bosses expect to award a raise to their staff this year.

The downside? It's probably less than you expect.

Hays recently surveyed more than 3,000 organisations and found about a third (32%) of IT and telecommunications employers expected to give raises between 3% and 6% in the next year, while 8% are planning on significant boosts of 6% or more.

However, most IT workers can look forward to a modest rise, with 52% of bosses plan on handing their staff a pay rise of less than 3% in their next review, while 8% did not plan on handing out pay rises at all.

The results came as part of the FY 18/19 Hays Salary Guide and exceeded results from FY 17/18 for IT and telecommunications workers, where 14% of employees did not receive a pay rise.

The planned wage increases from employers could be for good reason however, with two-thirds of employees listing a salary increase as their top priority for the year, while 48 percent said if a pay rise wasn’t offered to them, they would directly ask for one.

Senior Regional Director of Hays Information Technology, Adam Shapley, said the growing need for capable IT workers is forcing the trend.

“The demand for constant, on-demand access to products and services drove significant change across all sectors and industries this past year, with subsequent projects increasing the need for talent in a market already suffering from skill shortages,” he said.

“One example was increased demand for candidates with an elastic skill set across all CSIRT [Computer Security Incident Response Team] functions, penetration testing and information security.

"Given demand, cyber security salaries became more competitive."

It comes as economic growth in IT continues, with 74% of employers reporting overall business activity increasing in the past 12 months, while 77% expected it to increase in the next year.

And while most salaries will only see minor increases, IT and telecommunications still performed well compared to the wider workforce.

Across all industries, only 18% of employers planned on giving pay rises between 3 and 6%, meaning IT workers are almost twice as likely to receive a raise in this bracket.

However, 65% of employers planned on giving a pay rise of less than 3%, compared to 52% in IT.