This article was published in the May Issue of NZ Management Magazine.
Good employers understand that in order to remain ahead of the competition they must be able to attract and retain top level talent within their organisations. One of the most critical and basic tools to have in their arsenal is to offer competitive salaries or pay packages.
With the employment market now heavily weighted towards employees, the onus is on employers to offer packages that are competitive with similar businesses in their industry, sector, size or even location. If the business down the road is willing to pay a certain amount more than you, why would someone want to work for your organisation?
New Zealand business leaders need access to valuable salary and policy information from which they can form a flexible remuneration process and retain their best talent.
DIY not in our DNA For many businesses, gaining salary information isn’t in the conversation at the moment. Perhaps it’s a small business that has grown organically and salaries are reasonably set, or business leaders are happy to do their own research on what is an appropriate salary.
But do your salaries add up against the market?
Since true salary information isn’t always typically available, these techniques could mean businesses are way off paying their staff – which can lead to further problems. Absenteeism and staff turnover cost organisations thousands of dollars per year. If your organisation is encountering high staff turnover, struggling to attract the right level of staff or battling with retaining high performers, you might be out of touch with what the market is paying for these roles. So, if you’re interested in learning more about market information or have noticed some of the signs that are associated with unengaged employees, what are the tangible benefits of working with an organisation that provide the a more robust option of market information
Insight and analysis
Of course, the biggest advantage is access to real-time and accurate data. Regardless of your industry, business structure or how niche your positions are, benchmark surveys will highlight which salaries are considered average and which ones are considered low or high.
Get data that can help your business remain competitive.
By using this information, it’s simple to establish benchmark salary ranges for employees that are designed to make them happy and keep them loyal to your business – which in turn drives retention, lower staff turnover and higher engagement. Professionals in the HR space are moving away from engagement practices and more into strategic decisions about how to make employees happy.
This is the key message for organisations these days – especially for ones with an HR component in play. Having data to actually illustrate the situation and inform decisions around the business is incredibly valuable. It may also bring up questions around whether a business is overpaying its staff. So, if you don’t know what the rest of the market is doing, it’s difficult to keep people happy and the business ticking over.
The future of salary benchmarking
This is a topic that shows no sign of slowing down in New Zealand. People are quite open about discussing pay these days and it’s no longer the situation where it’s a closed subject for millennial employees. Employers need to have access to the right information to make relevant and accurate decisions.
