If you’re trying to attract and retain top talent, you need a competitive pay scale. Evaluating your salary schedules regularly is a necessity. Otherwise, you may end up falling behind the competition.
Creating a competitive pay scale can seem like a challenging undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be. If you haven’t examined your salary schedules recently, here’s what you need to do.
Examine the Position
The first step you need to take doesn’t involve financial data. Instead, you need to determine how much value a role provides to your organization, which skills it requires, how much experience is necessary, and the duties or responsibilities that the employee must handle. This gives you a holistic view of the job, ensuring you can determine what fair compensation looks like.
Research Salaries
Once you have a solid understanding of the role, you can begin researching salary norms. Look for the median pay a professional in that position could land in your area first. Then, crosscheck the commonly required skills, experience, certifications, education, or other nuances that define the job you are exploring.
Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale can be excellent starting points. Additionally, job boards that competitors use can also give you insights, as long as they post their salary ranges in the job ads.
Find the Min and Max
A pay scale is meant to be a range. The minimum needs to be enough to secure the basic skills you need immediately from a new hire. For the higher end, consider the maximum amount you would be willing to offer a top talent who checks nearly every box and could hit the ground running from the beginning.
Essentially, you need to craft a salary schedule based on how desirable a candidate may be, allowing you to present an offer that aligns with what they bring to the table as an individual.
Consider Total Compensation
Salaries aren’t the only form of compensation that provides your employees with value. Other benefits may be highly sought by candidates and workers, giving you the ability to factor them into the equation or create a bit of wiggle room during negotiations.
For example, if you have a tuition reimbursement or student loan assistance program, you may be able to offer smaller salaries. Similarly, if performance bonuses or commission come with the role, lower base pay might be acceptable.
Be Open to Negotiation
Negotiating a salary is common. With a well-crafted salary range, you have enough room to handle this conversation without putting the company in a bind. Plus, a candidate or worker who can present strong reasoning for a higher salary gives you insights into some of their capabilities, and may make meeting them halfway a good choice, ensuring you can keep those skills on your team.
Are you hiring?
Ultimately, regularly reviewing your pay scales is critical if your company is going to secure the top talent it needs. If you’d like to know more, the professionals at TRC Talent Solutions can help. Contact us with your questions today and see how our pay scale expertise can benefit you.
