Executive compensation benchmarking is the process of comparing an organisation’s senior leadership pay packages - such as base salary, bonuses, equity, long-term incentives, and total rewards - to external market data. The goal is to ensure that C-suite and senior management compensation remains competitive, fair, and aligned with business strategy.
Executives operate in a unique compensation environment where performance, shareholder expectations, and regulatory transparency heavily influence pay structures. Benchmarking ensures organisations attract and retain high-level leaders while maintaining compliance with governance standards.
Executive compensation benchmarking uses specialised data sources and structured analysis to evaluate senior leadership pay. The process typically includes:
- Role mapping & job evaluation: assessing executive responsibilities, strategic impact, and organisational scope.
- Market data collection: gathering compensation data from executive salary surveys, governance reports, public company filings, industry benchmarks, and compensation databases.
- Total rewards analysis: comparing base salary, annual incentives, long-term incentives, stock options, equity grants, performance bonuses, and benefits.
- Industry & peer group comparison: evaluating compensation against similar organisations by size, sector, and geography.
- Governance & compliance review: ensuring packages align with regulatory requirements and corporate governance expectations.
- Internal pay equity review: assessing fairness and alignment between executive and broader workforce compensation.
- Reporting & recommendations: providing insights to board committees and HR leaders for decision making.
This rigorous analysis ensures that compensation supports both talent attraction and organisational sustainability.
- Competitive leadership packages: attract and retain high-impact executives with market-aligned pay.
- Governance & transparency: supports compliance with corporate governance codes and disclosure regulations.
- Strategic alignment: ensures compensation incentivises long-term organisational success.
- Fair & balanced compensation: reduces risk of excessive or misaligned pay structures.
- Shareholder confidence: reinforces trust with investors and stakeholders.
- Global consistency: supports multinational organisations with cross-border executive roles.
- Standard salary benchmarking: focuses on market comparisons for general employee roles.
- Executive compensation benchmarking: involves a more complex evaluation of incentives, equity, governance, and public disclosures.
Executive compensation benchmarking is more specialised due to the strategic importance and regulatory scrutiny of senior leadership roles.
At Mauve Group, we support organisations with global compensation insights that help shape fair and competitive leadership pay structures. Through our salary benchmarking services, HR consulting, and global payroll expertise, we provide guidance on executive compensation across international markets.
Our global data access and deep understanding of international labour regulations help companies make confident, transparent, and compliant decisions about leadership compensation – especially during global expansion or restructuring.
- Salary benchmarking: comparing internal pay levels to external market rates.
- Compensation analysis: assessing salary structures, incentives, and total rewards.
- Pay benchmarking: evaluating total compensation packages across market standards.
- Total rewards strategy: the combined financial and non-financial components of compensation.
- Pay equity analysis: ensuring compensation fairness across groups.
- Global payroll services: managing salaries, benefits, and compliance worldwide.