How to Stay Competitive Using Market Compensation

November 21, 2023
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How to Stay Competitive Using Market Compensation 

These days, the top talent is clear on what they expect from their employers — competitive salaries, fast interview and onboarding processes, and regular compensation reviews.

Investing in market compensation is an effective way to solve these three pain points because it allows you to stay on top of the latest compensation trends so you can offer your employees the best.

By knowing what the market is doing, it’s easy to quickly yet confidently set competitive salaries for both new and existing employees. This not only helps you build trust during compensation conversations but gives you valuable insight into exactly what your competitors are offering.    

But don’t just take our word for it. Discover more about how other companies are using real-time market compensation data to create a competitive edge in a crowded market. 

The key to compensation success: reliable, real-time data 

When creating a compensation policy, one stumbling block many companies come up against is where to find the market compensation data they need to set competitive yet realistic salaries. It’s no longer enough to rely on Google or Glassdoor (spoiler alert: salary listings on here are unverified). As a result, many companies are moving towards a market compensation policy with foundations built on reliable, real-time data instead.    

How Treatwell created a joined-up compensation strategy 

As a company that’s spread across 13 different European markets, the Treatwell HR team spent a significant amount of time trawling the internet for salary information across 750 different roles. From reading reviews on Glassdoor to reviewing competitors’ job adverts, they created a spreadsheet of salary information. But even after all this effort, they knew this data wasn’t as accurate or reliable as it could be.  

The goal was to create a joined-up compensation strategy that enabled the HR team to not only set competitive salaries for new employees but also to help them conduct fair reviews for their existing team members. They knew they needed a benchmarking tool that could offer data across different markets. 

Thanks to Figures’ extensive coverage, Treatwell gained access to the international salary data they needed to set salaries that not only attracted top talent but also allowed them to manage their recruitment budget effectively. Their leaders are now empowered to make the right budgeting decisions that help this company thrive. 

Read the full case study here. 

The key to attracting (and retaining) the top talent: open communication  

Regular, open conversations about compensation help employees feel like their skills are valued, which in turn boosts their productivity and promotes an atmosphere of trust. Using accurate benchmarking data also gives many companies the confidence they need to open up their compensation decisions to employees. By being open about the decision-making process behind salary reviews, it’s easier to show your team they’re being paid competitively and provide the rationale behind your decisions.     

How JobTeaser created a market compensation philosophy to attract the top talent

In the highly competitive finance industry, attracting and hiring top talent means it’s vital that you can quickly offer attractive salaries to prospective hires. And to achieve this, you need instant access to high-quality benchmarking data. Based in Paris, JobTeaser experienced exponential growth which meant they needed to expand their team quickly. But the HR team couldn’t find accurate regional data to help them structure their salary benchmarks. 

In addition to finding high-quality data, JobTeaser wanted to restructure its internal salary structure to make it easier to align its talent with the right compensation. Their goal was to separate seniority levels and salaries into a well-established structure that allowed for fast yet accurate salary decisions for both new hires and salary reviews. Using filters meant they could zoom in on exactly what data they wanted to see.   

Using data to define salary levels in this way also meant that it was possible to share formatted PDFs with employees and future hires, openly communicating the decision process behind each offer. By switching to using compensation benchmarking data from Figures, JobTeaser was able to promote a positive company culture that’s based on open and transparent communication.  

Read the full case study here.

How market compensation can help you achieve true transparency 

Pay equity and transparency are more important than ever before — both to potential new hires and existing employees. Not only that, but new pay transparency directives for the European Union mean that companies need to start considering how they’re going to meet these new obligations. 

And one solution is to use market compensation data to back up your salary decisions. The good news is that the return on investment (ROI) for investing in market compensation is strong, especially given that salaries are usually a company’s largest expense.      

The secret weapon to attracting top talent and maintaining your competitive edge? Accurate market compensation data that’s updated in real-time. And Figures has the best data in the EU & UK.

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