Selecting the Appropriate Compensation Survey: An In-Depth Manual

Wondering how much other companies pay their employees in your industry? Curious about the right salary for your workers? If you have been thinking about these questions, it is time to do a compensation survey.

In the job market, having a competitive salary is crucial. To attract the best talent, you need to offer an appealing salary. That is where a compensation survey comes into play.

Doing a compensation survey helps you offer the best deal to potential employees. In this article, we will explore diverse types of compensation surveys and guide you on creating a great one.

The Significance of Compensation Survey

Understanding the importance of a compensation survey is essential for both job seekers and those involved in hiring. Here are some reasons why it is crucial to conduct a salary survey in your industry.

• Ensures Fair Pay for Your Team

Feedback from a compensation survey gives you a clear picture of what the typical salary standard is for a certain position in your industry. This means you can offer competitive rewards to your staff, including salary, bonuses, benefits, and paid leave.

• Promotes Stability in Your Workforce

Workers frequently change jobs seeking better conditions, especially when it comes to pay and benefits. To establish stability in your team, it is crucial to conduct a compensation survey to get comprehensive data. From this data, you can make a fair pay package that attracts and retains employees.

• Informs Better Decision-Making

As a business owner, using data to make informed decisions is essential. A compensation survey gives reliable information for workplace decision-making, especially when it comes to taking care of your employees.

• Keeps You Informed About Industry Trends

Using a compensation survey keeps you in the loop about what is happening in your industry. It gives vital information about the proper and fair pay for people with various skills and experience levels in your field.

• Boosts Employee Morale

Adequate rewards can lead to unparalleled loyalty and commitment. Research suggests that inadequate salaries and benefits are reasons why 38% of employees leave their jobs. The right compensation package boosts morale and encourages employees to give their best.

• Ensures a Competitive Position in Your Industry

Talented individuals often choose organizations with attractive employee reward packages. A compensation survey provides the data you need to make your company a top workplace in your industry, drawing in the right talent.

• Ensures Legal Compliance

Compensation surveys help ensure your organization complies with labor and industry laws. This prevents price-fixing and reduces the risk of violating labor laws in your country.

Different Types of Compensation Survey Data Sources

Compensation survey data comes from two main types of sources:

• Informal Salary Data

This information is mostly free and often comes from Google searches, conversations with friends, social media posts, recruitment agencies, or other stories. People can easily check the usual pay for their jobs using these sources and question if their salary is competitive. But experts in compensation and HR know that crowdsourced or web-scraped data has a specific place. It is good for giving an idea or reference when no other data is around. While it can fill gaps, it lacks the careful testing, validation, and credibility of employer-verified data.

• Formal Salary Data

Companies share their information anonymously in a compensation survey, providing valuable data. The data follows a tested method, making it simple to understand and compare. Though joining a formal survey takes time, the quality and value it offers, especially when compared to informal sources, make it worthwhile in the end.

Understanding Your Compensation Survey Choices

It is crucial to know your audience or target market when selecting the right compensation survey. Clearly defining how your company will use the survey results is vital. Does the survey cover the type of data you are analyzing, such as base salaries, incentives, and bonuses? Does it include the companies your current employees are hired to and the ones you recruit from? A good guideline is to ensure the survey covers 75% or more of the positions you want to apply for.

Make sure the data submission and retrieval process is easy. Your time is valuable, and being part of a compensation survey should help, not drain your resources. A clear submission process with documented steps, access to previous submissions, and a vendor contact for result interpretation are crucial. The vendor must clarify how they handle missing or incorrect data upfront. The ease of retrieving the final report, available 24/7 through download, is equally important. Multiple formats, like PDF and Excel, make it easier to utilize key data points for trends and changes.

Check the survey vendor's reputation and the data quality. Make sure the survey follows safe harbor guidelines, especially for healthcare data. These guidelines include managing third parties, using data not older than three months, having at least five participants for each data point, and weighting data to avoid dominance by any single company. These protections keep data confidential and ensure accurate results.

Look for extra benefits in the survey. Does the vendor offer chances to connect with other participants? Can they help explain the results considering the current job market and economic trends? It should be easy to pick out data and get custom reports. Plus, a vendor who welcomes feedback and ideas for improvements adds more value to the survey for your team.

Enhancing Your Strategy with Compensation Survey Data

After getting your hands on compensation survey data, you may be wondering how to make it work for you. Here are some simple ways to use your data and boost your compensation strategy:

• Craft or Update Job Descriptions

When you are bringing in new people or clarifying expectations for current roles, rely on salary data to lead the way. It assists in linking duties and experience with the exact compensation level. This ensures job descriptions are accurate from beginning to end.

• Get Approval from Leadership

Just like your employees, your leaders need to understand why you are updating the compensation strategy. Survey data supports your decisions and gives the evidence leaders need to approve changes.

• Strengthen Your Strategy with Total Rewards

If your company cannot give the top cash salary, survey data may reveal ways to improve compensation packages differently. Think about a more comprehensive total rewards approach, including benefits, recognition programs, and special rewards.

• Adjust Compensation During Reviews

Checking salary data often assists you in making fair and competitive compensation adjustments during performance reviews. It gets you ready to link these changes to performance.

• Seek Guidance from a Compensation Consultant

The great part of working with a compensation consultant for custom surveys is that you can count on their expertise. They help interpret the results and guide you in making smart improvements to your current compensation approach.