Why salary benchmarking is key to retaining talent
Benchmarking pay is your ticket to building a loyal global workforce.
- What is Salary Benchmarking? Salary Benchmarking compares salaries and benefits against local expectations. By providing up-to-date salary data, it helps businesses to make informed and strategic decisions regarding remuneration when entering new markets.
- How does Salary Benchmarking help to retain top talent? Salary benchmarking increases employee commitment. When companies offer competitive pay and benefits that meet local standards, they make workers feel valued, thus boosting retention.
- How can Mauve help? With almost 30 years of experience in global mobility, Mauve Group offers a comprehensive Salary Benchmarking service to help businesses attract and retain top international talent.
In today’s busy marketplace, taking your business global is a surefire way to retain your competitive advantage and stand out from your peers.
When the pandemic normalised remote and hybrid working models, it prompted the rapid evolution of digital management and communication technologies. This made managing global workforces easier. Streamlining how dispersed teams operated resulted in greater opportunities for SMEs to internationalise.
Today, these conditions have contributed to SME leaders increasingly turning their attentions to international expansion. According to a 2023 survey from DHL, only one in ten UK SMEs did not intend to expand globally in the next year.
More and more companies move beyond their home markets. They are doing this either by establishing entities overseas, or by engaging global talent via global hiring solutions such as Employer of Record. As a result, the need for expert advice regarding international remuneration packages grows.
This is where salary benchmarking takes the stage. This service helps businesses of all sizes to attract and retain top talent, no matter where in the world they are seeking to recruit.
What is salary benchmarking?
The salary benchmarking process involves a team of experts who benchmarks salaries and benefits packages against local averages in the location where a client is interested in recruiting workers.
The team then assembles a report, including details and analysis of the economic situation in the country. They will look at salary surveys, job descriptions, salary ranges. They will also include information on wage brackets, as well as mandatory benefits and preferred benefits. Additionally, the report will highlight the relevant legal and ethical considerations that businesses should take into account.
As global mobility becomes the way of the future, salary benchmarking is increasing in popularity. 54% of business owners say they use Salary Benchmarking when hiring workers in new regions.
How does salary benchmarking help to retain top talent?
Investing in attracting and retaining top talent is beneficial for both the company and the worker. The company sees their investment pay off as employee loyalty, morale, and retention rates rise. This in, turn, drives innovation and success within the company.
At the same time, the worker enjoys a rewarding career. They know their employer values their contribution and is committed to supporting them and helping them progress.
The first step when seeking to hire top talent is to assemble an attractive remuneration package. When hiring in a new location, organisations should seek professional support to ensure that their salary offering is in line with local expectations.
After all, you can’t retain top talent without securing it first! So, how does salary benchmarking attract top talent?
Securing top talent by benchmarking pay
Delegate time-consuming research
Offering attractive salaries and benefits means knowing your market inside out. However, this involves extensive research and data analysis. Salary benchmarking is a useful tool, allowing you to delegate the extensive work involved in assembling all local data and comparisons. You save time and resources, while ensuring an accurate report at the end.
Your business can then use this report to ensure that it offers competitive salaries. You avoid accidentally offering an inappropriately high or low salary.
Benchmark pay with local expertise
Factors like costs of living and minimum wage requirements differ drastically from country to country. It’s key to remember that you cannot apply one salary to a role if the role is held by multiple people across regions. What makes salary benchmarking important here is the extensive local knowledge the experts apply to their reporting. This will bolster their reporting, allowing for greater accuracy and context.
Mauve Group’s teams have almost thirty years’ experience in the field of global mobility. Our Salary Benchmarking service is undertaken by local experts and provides all the information you need to make strategic decisions around remuneration for your global workforce.
So, now that you’ve attracted your talent – how does compensation benchmarking help you to retain them?
Maintaining a satisfied workforce
Offering competitive salaries and benefits
Providing competitive salaries is an excellent way of ensuring your workers’ satisfaction within their roles. Salary satisfaction crucial to keeping employees engaged and committed to your company.
Fairly compensating your staff also increases morale. It ensures that workers see how much their employer values their skills and contributions.
Forbes notes that raising wages increases productivity and company loyalty, as workers are more motivated to remain and progress in their current company.
Researchers have extensively documented that salary serves as the main motivator for jobseekers. However, flexibility, feeling seen and valued, and work-life balance are all key factors taken into account by today’s employees.
Salary benchmarking doesn’t just look at financial remuneration. It also indicates mandatory and preferred benefits in the country of work. Forbes notes that providing benefits such as healthcare, retirement plans, gym memberships, and wellness programmes, go a long way towards retaining a happy workforce.
Ensuring cultural sensitivity and ethical awareness
Different countries have varying standards and expectations regarding factors like working models and company hierarchies. Knowing the differences between your home country and your new work location is important.
Salary benchmarking reports include assessment of local cultural expectations and traditions. You can use this information in your hiring process. This will also prove useful in the working environments you are creating for your international staff.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) policies promote workplace equity. They operate to combat issues such as the gender, race, and disability pay gaps. Salary Benchmarking will take all local policies into account. Like this, your company remains compliant with the DEI regulations of the country of work.
Demonstrating your commitment to fairness and equality improves worker morale and satisfaction, thereby contributing to retention.
For more information on the legal and ethical considerations in salary benchmarking, download our whitepaper.
How Mauve can help
With almost 30 years of experience helping companies of all sizes to go global, our experts are armed with in-depth knowledge of 150+ countries.
So, no matter where in the world you want to hire talent, we’re ready to provide comprehensive reporting on and analysis of all local factors – from salary expectations and mandatory benefits, to cost of living and more.
Find out how we can help your organisation to go global. Contact us, today.
For more information, read our 'Ultimate guide to Salary Benchmarking' and download our Salary Benchmarking brochure.
