Time Well Compensated!

January 25th, 2017
Written by: Dana Papke

Develop a clear company compensation strategy and your time and effort will be rewarded…

In today’s fast-moving world, most organizations don’t dedicate sufficient time to the one thing that will help them effectively attract and retain the best talent. Why is developing a compensation strategy so often pushed to one side? If you are feeling the pressures of conflicting priorities, at least ask yourself this: Am I able to attract the kind of talent that I need to run my business? Do I truly believe, at annual review and when people hand in their notice, that salary is not on my employees’ minds?

Developing a compensation strategy is not difficult. Most organizations simply decide they want to pay the market average. It’s a good enough approach, but there can be pitfalls. Inevitably large global organizations are going to be able to pay more than smaller companies, so be clear that you are making like-for-like company comparisons when you look at your company’s pay rates vs. those in the market.

Start by finding a reputable source of salary information that reflects your company in terms of the nature of what you do: your staff size, budget/revenue, and location. Consider, too, the area you will recruit from for different positions. Your search area for a new CEO, for example, will be much wider than for a receptionist, who is likely to be recruited locally. Then, once you have found your salary information, the next step is to compare the salaries you are paying against those in your survey source.

You can do all this yourself but it can pay to involve an experienced and knowledgeable consultant who will have looked at this sort of information many times before. They will be able to give you a real feel for where your company sits in relation to the competitive recruitment marketplace. They can also help you use this information to develop a compensation strategy that fits with your overall strategy and is as nuanced as you need it to be.