By:
MEAadmin |
05.14.14 |
Compensation
Tips for Using Salary Data
More than 80 percent of business managers and HR professionals said their companies either participate in or purchase at least one salary survey each year according to Salary.com.
Why use salary surveys?
- Paying employees fairly is just good business practice. Underpay employees and you might lose them as they look elsewhere for a better offer. Overpay employees and your payroll costs may skyrocket and profitability will suffer.
- Salary data provides a robust foundation for making sound decisions on pay levels/pay practices; both domestic and global data are available in surveys.
- Comparisons to salary data allow you to establish pay levels armed with information on what your competitors are doing.
- Survey data can be used to identify market trends – is your company’s pay keeping pace with the market?
Best Practices
- Conduct a full-blown market study every 3-4 years for all jobs.
- In between major studies, focus on new jobs, hard-to-recruit jobs and jobs with “hot” skill sets.
- Consider the total compensation package – having information on salary, variable pay, commission and benefits allows for better comparisons and may prevent one from making incorrect assumptions about salary level. For example, some companies are more generous with their benefits package, which could justify lower base salaries.
- Use multiple reputable survey sources unless there is only one data source available or when there is an ideal source that provides precise market data.
If you have never benchmarked your organization’s salary and benefit levels before…
- Start simple – don’t bite off more than you can chew – evaluate just a few key benchmarks initially to get an idea of market positioning.
- Rotate job families or departments – each year, benchmark a different job family or department and continue to rotate annually so that all jobs are eventually assessed against market data.
- Consider hiring a third-party to conduct a salary analysis for you as they have the survey resources available, unbiased approach and expertise to interpret and advise on results.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://meainfo.org/app/uploads/2014/10/leslie-barringer.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Leslie Barringer
Director of Compensation & Benefitslbarringer@meainfo.org[/author_info] [/author]