When it comes to boosting employee compensation, it’s a good idea for businesses today to be very aware of what the competition is offering their employees. The labor market is growing tighter by the hour and if you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to be bringing top talent into your fold without concerns over losing them to your competitors who have sweeter compensation packages.
The rub in all this is that most businesses today still aren’t ahead of the recession enough to have endless reserves of money and benefits to throw at candidates. More importantly, uncertainty over taxes and health care coverage has many businesses reluctant to overextend themselves by offering too much in the way of compensation and benefits.
So, where does that leave you as a business owner? The bottom line is that you need to find out what your competitor is offering so that you can remain competitive without getting into an outright wage war that only damages both businesses. But, how can you learn this information?
Consider Third-Party Salary Survey Resources
These resources offer a wide range of options to research when checking out your competition. What you’re looking for, in this particular situation, relates completely to the compensation your competition is offering employees in the way of pay and incentives. Don’t forget, however, to factor in other considerations that can impact the salary, job satisfaction, and total compensation such as these:
- Job Description – in some cases this is the game changer that takes someone from a five-figure to a six-figure salary without a fancy title to go along with it. Companies use tactics such as this all the time in order to tilt the compensation scale wildly in their favor. That’s why it’s so important that you’re making apples to apples comparisons when comparing jobs and salaries.
- Commitment Expectations – some companies prefer so many hours of work each week at a minimum. These expectations are factored into salary offerings rather than offering overtime pay and keeping records of the hours worked. This practice is something else that can make the compensation packages of competitors seem so much more than what they really are.
- Localized Salary Figures – some companies include salaries from around the world in their facts and figures as well. While that may work in your favor if your office is located in one of the traditionally higher paying regions (California, Hawaii, or New York City, for example) this could actually work in your favor. However, for most of the country, the averages make the companies look like they’re offering larger salaries and/or compensation packages.
Employee compensation is so much bigger than salary alone. It’s always in your best interest to avoid trying to create a dollar for dollar match of other company’s compensation plans. Keep in mind that there are too many additional ways your business can be the superior company to work for. For more information about employee compensation planning and providing the best to your staff, be sure to review our previous posts on this topic here.
