Four steps to benchmark your pay and benefits against those of other employers

Employers need to take a wide range of factors into account when they are reviewing and setting pay and benefits. But while average pay awards are below inflation, it is more important than ever to be clear on where your organisation’s pay and benefits fall when compared to other organisations. If that rate is out of line with that available for similar roles elsewhere, you may find yourself either unable to recruit and retain staff or paying over the odds to the detriment of the bottom line.

By considering data on the pay and benefits offered by other employers your organisation will be able to gain a good understanding of the employment market. This will allow you to decide where you want your organisation to fit into that market and set policies and pay rates as part of a wider reward strategy that will enable to recruit, reward and retain staff appropriately.

Follow these four steps to benchmark your organisation’s pay and benefits against those of other employers.

1. Choosing the appropriate comparators

2. Deciding what to benchmark

3. Selecting sources of information

4. Act on the data