Salary Surveys

Our benchmarking looks at the whole remuneration package in comparison with the client’s own plans, including:

• Base salary
• Bonus
• Long-term incentive plans
• Pensions, where possible
• Benefits

We aim to provide details of bonus and (if relevant) long-term incentive schemes. Bonus plans may be very simple or more complex. Long-term incentive details sought will include characteristics such as the level of opportunity, performance metrics, deferral requirements and the ‘currency’ of the plan (shares, options, phantom shares etc).

We also provide data on benefits paid.

We typically request [under the terms of a pre-signed Confidentiality Undertaking] up-to-date compensation data for client staff (including job ‘points’, job families etc) and any other key data.

We will agree the peers we choose to include amongst the proposed ‘benchmark’ companies. We normally begin with a list of ‘possible peers’ and build consensus from there.

As part of our data gathering, we may also obtain data from recent hiring experience.

It is likely that we will rely on sources from many companies and several ‘peer groups’ such that we can provide clients with the clearest possible picture of the market(s). We try to ensure that we are looking at companies of a size that is reflective of the client, in terms of market capitalisation and revenues.

Some roles are far more widely disclosed than others - but we endeavour to provide detailed analysis for each position within the agreed scope.