Data is the backbone that keeps pay decisions competitive, equitable, and fair.

By data I mean:

1) The employee, pay, and job data in your HR system is up to date and accurate. I shouldn’t have to say this, but you would be surprised how many employers do not have data they can trust.

2) The compensation data (think salary surveys) you use to benchmark your jobs is statistically reliable and valid.

a. It is purchased (not free).

b. It is HR reported data and not employee or crowd sourced data.

c. It is a stable database year over year without crazy fluctuations.

d. You participate in the salary surveys and encourage other employers in your industry to do the same.

e. You can generate reports that are by work location, industry, and employer size.

3) Your incentive plans, short-term and long-term, are based on the salary survey data and aligned to the business goals. Your target incentives (X% or $Y) are in the HR system and not kept on spreadsheets that only John can access.

4) You have software that supports the benchmarking of jobs, pay decision making, and equity analysis work. There are reports that provide the data you need to answer questions from mangers, executives, and employees quickly with confidence.

Employers: Tell me which of these do you have in place today? 1 and 2? 1 only? All 4? None of the above?

#compensation #data #hr #humanresources #salarysurveys #incentives #pay #payequity #paytransparency #fairpay #rewards #sti #lti #hrsystems #hris