Salary benchmarking during economic uncertainty: best practices for 2025 and beyond
Learn how to benchmark salaries fairly in 2025. Stay competitive, attract top talent, and make confident pay decisions – even in uncertain economic times.

· Discover how salary benchmarking helps businesses stay agile during economic instability.
· Learn how global payroll outsourcing and HR consulting services enhance compliance and consistency.
· Explore how data, technology, and transparency support sustainable pay strategies beyond 2025.
The global economy is ever shifting. Factors like trade, conflict, tourism, political upheaval, inflation, and even lucrative tours by high profile musicians, can impact the economic landscape at any given time.
During periods of economic uncertainty, companies can leverage tools to help them understand the new economic reality. These tools help to ensure they are paying their global workforce in line with local regulations and circumstances.
Before considering global payroll outsourcing or overseas HR consulting services, businesses should prioritise understanding the local economic situations in their countries of operation.
Business leaders can gauge this by using salary benchmarking. As inflation, global instability and shifting labour markets reshape pay expectations in 2025, salary benchmarking is becoming a key tool to support businesses to continue expanding and thriving globally.
Salary benchmarking offers an opportunity for organisations to align their workforce costs with real market conditions. Using salary benchmarking also helps to retain talent and plan for long-term sustainability, far into the future.
For more information, visit our Ultimate guide to salary benchmarking.
Understanding the current economic landscape
The economic landscape of 2025 is defined by volatility and interconnection. Labour markets are becoming increasingly international. Remote work and cross-border employment have enhanced workforce mobility.
Meanwhile, inflation rates remain unpredictable in many regions. Government responses to economic instability, such as interest rate adjustments and wage regulations, can vary significantly from one country to another.
For businesses managing global teams, this complexity poses major challenges. What constitutes a fair or competitive salary in one market may be entirely inappropriate in another. Salary benchmarking helps to address this by providing data-driven insights into regional pay trends, cost-of-living fluctuations, and industry standards.
Accurate pay benchmarking enables organisations to make informed decisions about pay structures and benefits packages. It also supports compliance by ensuring alignment with local employment laws and minimum wage requirements. Companies that operate internationally often use global payroll outsourcing solutions to consolidate their pay data, automate compliance checks, and ensure consistent standards across borders. Combined with reliable benchmarking, this approach can significantly reduce administrative burdens and financial risks.
Why salary benchmarking matters more than ever
In uncertain times, the relationship between employees and employers becomes even more important. Workers want reassurance that their efforts are being recognised and fairly compensated, especially as living costs continue to fluctuate. For businesses, offering the right salary goes beyond paying the correct amount. It means building trust, maintaining motivation, and attracting skilled professionals in competitive sectors.
Accurate salary benchmarking gives organisations the evidence they need to justify pay decisions and maintain internal equity. It also provides clarity for employees, reducing the perception of unfairness and helping to strengthen retention. This is particularly valuable in sectors where demand for specific skill sets is high, and turnover can be costly.
In addition, salary benchmarking helps companies balance their financial responsibilities. By understanding the salary landscape across regions, HR and finance teams can plan budgets more effectively. They can also avoid both underpayment, which risks losing talent, and overpayment, which can strain resources.
For companies engaged in global payroll outsourcing or seeking HR consulting services, access to up-to-date benchmarking data ensures that pay policies remain both competitive and compliant across multiple jurisdictions.
Leveraging data and technology for smarter benchmarking
Technology now plays a pivotal role in salary benchmarking. Artificial intelligence, real-time market analytics, and predictive modelling tools are transforming how organisations gather and interpret pay data. Instead of relying on static salary surveys, companies can now use AI-driven systems that continuously update with information from multiple verified sources.
These tools can identify trends such as regional pay growth and industry-specific shifts. They can also highlight emerging roles with rising compensation expectations.
For example, predictive analytics can forecast how inflation or policy changes might affect salary ranges in the next year, allowing organisations to prepare proactively.
Modern HR consulting services often integrate benchmarking tools directly into broader workforce management systems. This provides decision-makers with a single view of pay structures, performance metrics, and financial outcomes. Similarly, companies using global payroll outsourcing benefit from centralised data that links payroll operations with benchmarking insights. This integration supports faster decision-making and reduces the likelihood of costly compliance errors.
By leveraging these technologies, businesses can adapt their pay strategies in real time and remain competitive even in volatile conditions.
Balancing fair pay, budget constraints, and transparency
While data and automation are valuable, salary benchmarking still requires human judgment. Businesses must weigh the insights they gain against financial realities and cultural expectations. The goal is to strike a balance between fair pay and sustainable spending.
Transparency is increasingly important to today’s workforce. Employees want to understand how managers make salary decisions and how their compensation compares to market standards. Benchmarking allows HR teams to explain these decisions clearly and with evidence. Employees increasingly trust the organisation when they observe that data drives pay structures.
For businesses managing diverse teams across multiple countries, consistent communication about pay strategy is essential. Global payroll outsourcing providers can help ensure that salary structures, benefits, and deductions are communicated clearly and applied fairly across jurisdictions.
HR consulting services can help leaders to share benchmarking results with employees. This way, businesses can promote fairness and inclusion.
Balancing transparency and discretion is a delicate process. Too much information can create unnecessary tension, but too little can lead to distrust. The most effective organisations use benchmarking to provide the right level of clarity while maintaining confidentiality around sensitive data.
Future-proofing compensation strategies beyond 2025
The pace of change in global markets shows no sign of slowing. As businesses plan for 2026 and beyond, salary benchmarking will continue to evolve from a once-a-year review into a continuous strategic process. Organisations that regularly update their benchmarking data are better equipped to adjust to inflation, respond to new tax laws, and adapt to emerging business models such as remote-first employment.
Future-proofing a compensation strategy means building flexibility into every aspect of pay management. Instead of rigid salary bands, companies can adopt adaptive pay frameworks that evolve with market data. Predictive analytics will play an increasing role in forecasting salary trends, enabling proactive adjustments before market shifts cause disruption.
Partnerships will also remain central to success. Businesses that work with experienced HR consulting services gain access to expert guidance on compliance, benefits, and cultural expectations. Similarly, those who embrace global payroll outsourcing can streamline payroll operations while maintaining oversight through centralised reporting and analytics. Together, these solutions ensure that pay strategies remain compliant, efficient, and aligned with global best practice.
Ultimately, salary benchmarking is a strategic and necessary tool for businesses seeking to bolster their long-term viability. By combining accurate data, intelligent technology, and transparent communication, companies can strengthen trust, retain talent, and maintain financial stability no matter what the global economy throws their way.
How Mauve can help
For almost 30 years, Mauve Group has supported organisations worldwide with expert global payroll outsourcing and HR consulting services. Our team combines local expertise with advanced technology to deliver compliant, efficient, and transparent payroll solutions in more than 150 countries. By integrating salary benchmarking insights into our services, we help businesses remain competitive, control costs, and retain top talent across international markets.
Mauve Group also offers Employer of Record services, global payroll solutions to help with international payroll management, and HR services to improve your peace of mind as you expand internationally.
Whether you are expanding into new territories or reviewing your existing compensation strategies, Mauve can provide the tools and expertise you need to navigate global payroll with confidence.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is salary benchmarking?
Salary benchmarking is the process of comparing your organisation’s pay rates against industry and regional standards. It helps ensure fair, competitive, and compliant compensation practices, especially when managing a global workforce.
2. How often should businesses review salary benchmarks?
Ideally, benchmarking should be an ongoing process rather than an annual task. Regular reviews—supported by real-time data—allow organisations to adapt quickly to inflation, labour shortages, and regulatory changes.
3. How does salary benchmarking connect with global payroll outsourcing?
Benchmarking provides the market data that informs payroll decisions, while global payroll outsourcing ensures those decisions are executed accurately and compliantly. Together, they create a streamlined, data-driven approach to managing international pay.

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