How to Effectively Complete Salary Benchmarking

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Salary benchmarking is the process of comparing your organisation’s salaries to those of similar roles in the market to ensure that your compensation is competitive. Here are the best practices for effective salary benchmarking:

1. Define Job Roles Clearly:

  • Job Descriptions: Develop clear and detailed job descriptions for the roles you want to benchmark. This should include responsibilities, required skills, qualifications, and experience levels.
  • Standardise Titles: Ensure that job titles are standardised for accurate comparisons across organisations.

2. Identify Salary Benchmarking Sources:

  • Industry Surveys: Utilise industry salary surveys, reports, or studies that provide data on compensation for specific roles within your sector.
  • Government Data: Explore public databases (e.g., the Office for National Statistics in the UK) that provide wage data by occupation and region.
  • Compensation Databases: Consider using industry-leading compensation databases such as PayScale, Glassdoor, and Indeed, which aggregate salary information from various companies.
  • Recruitment Agencies: Collaborate with recruitment and consulting firms that offer salary benchmarking services tailored to your industry.

3. Assess Geographic Differences:

  • Location: Consider the geographical location of your organisation, as salaries can vary significantly based on regional cost of living and demand for specific skills. Benchmark against companies in the same location or adjust for geographic differences.

4. Analyse Total Compensation:

  • Beyond Base Salary: Evaluate the total compensation offered, including bonuses, benefits, stock options, and other incentives. Understanding the full compensation package is crucial for a comprehensive analysis.

5. Collect Data:

  • Gather Information: Use surveys, public data, and industry reports to gather salary information. You might also conduct your own survey with industry peers, ensuring confidentiality and accuracy.
  • Competitor Analysis: Research the compensation packages of direct competitors, including benefits, work-life balance, and growth opportunities.

6. Data Analysis:

  • Statistical Methods: Analyse the collected data using statistical methods to identify the average, median, and range of salaries for each role.
  • Adjust for Experience Levels: Look at how salaries vary based on experience, tenure, and education relevant to each job role.

7. Internal Equity:

  • Review Internal Salaries: Compare the benchmarking data with your current salaries to identify anomalies or inconsistencies. Ensure that your pay structure aligns with performance and contribution across similar roles.

8. Create a Benchmarking Report:

  • Summary and Recommendations: Summarise your findings in a report that highlights key insights, salary ranges, and potential adjustments needed for competitive compensation.
  • Presentation: Present the data and recommendations to leadership for review and decision-making.

9. Regularly Update Benchmark Data:

  • Ongoing Process: Salary benchmarking should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Regularly update your data and revisit your compensation strategy to adapt to changing market trends.

10. Communicate Changes:

  • Transparency: If adjustments to salary structures are made, communicate these changes clearly to relevant employees, highlighting how compensation is determined and the rationale behind any adjustments.

By following these best practices, you can conduct meaningful salary benchmarking that allows your organization to remain competitive in attracting and retaining top talent.

OUR FOCUS ON LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIPS

At re:find we have been in Executive Search for over 20 years. We believe that recruitment is not a one-off transaction but rather a long-term partnership. We aim to build long-term relationships with our clients, providing ongoing support and advice to help them find and retain the best talent for their organisation.

In addition, as a business, we understand that every organisation is unique and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to recruitment. That’s why we offer bespoke recruitment solutions that are tailored to meet the specific needs of each client. Whether you need help with a single hire or a full recruitment campaign, we can help.

We are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality service. As part of this, we ensure that we take the time to understand your organisation’s culture and values, as well as the specific skills and experience needed for each role.

For more information on our executive search practice and our CCS framework
please get in touch with our Head of Interim, Sam Dyde. 

Please visit our website to see more of our knowledge hub: https://refind.co.uk/

Ten tips for transformation go-live success

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Ten tips for transformation go-live success

There is no single “cut and paste” solution for go-live success since each company has its own culture, its own spend budget and change readiness agility. There are certainly some common factors if applied with the correct level of dedication and follow-through, which can make a great difference to the speed of implementation and effectiveness of your transformation.

In this installment of In:site we speak to Simon Brown.

Simon is a veteran of six end-to-end Transformation and Shared Services Programmes (since 1996). Simon often gets asked: what works best, what advice would you give?

However, Go-Live is that high profile moment when you turn all the thinking, planning, blood, sweat and tears of knowledge transfer, including the processes which you lift and shift or lift and transform, into a new operational model. A model which the customers can see, feel, touch and truly experience. It’s similar to opening a store or restaurant and suddenly your customers are ready to consume your products and services and give you feedback on what they did or didn’t like.

So here are my 10 top tips for Transformation Go-Live Success:

1. Begin with the end in mind for go-live success

Establish a visual blueprint of your future organisation, your Target Operating Model, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve go-live success. Be clear on the deliverables and desired outcomes. As well as the measures of success in terms of operational effectiveness, customer satisfaction and cost efficiency. Define and agree these upfront with your key stakeholders. Plan ahead and get answers to these points before you get sucked into the doing mode.

2. Create a compelling vision to move forward

By working together on the design team and actually articulating the vision by physically drawing a tableau to describe your future state, you are creating something which you can show and share with others to get them involved and engaged. A picture is worth a thousand words: it draws people in, starts a conversation, creates meaning and a dialogue for change. Hopefully, it also provokes a response and creates an emotional reaction. So to gain momentum to move forward we need to create a compelling vision, a good story, something to believe in, to follow and to become part of.

3. Engage your key stakeholders early and enlist business “change champions”

Before you start to implement your new ways of working, be sure to get real supporters from the business on your side. Change champions are leaders and role models. They are well respected by other managers and thus engender + enable peer and cascade credibility to the transformation story. Identify and enlist “change champions” who can talk positively about the benefits of self-service, portal and system technology. This will allow HR business partners to actually spend more time supporting the business agenda and less time as a pair of hands on administration.

4. Align Systems with Processes

Generally, alignment is the key word. Alignment of activities, sub-projects and work-streams are key to the successful implementation + end user digestion of the transformation and changes to the ways of working. Having a clearly coordinated and well-structured Project Management Office with a well-bundled communications plan can really help to present the transformation as one initiative, not a thousand unrelated busy tasks. Just like the air traffic controller the role is to ensure that planes take off and lands safely at the right time in the right place.

Align Process + System
System design and implementation and process design and implementation need to happen in parallel, to be aligned. You can’t implement a system without a clear and consistent set of global processes, and global processes will only work if the system enables the necessary transactions.
Roles and workflows must be defined and aligned. One without the other = an unholy and costly mess and lots of re-work.

Align Portal with People
Think about what is relevant for the end user when designing your intranet portal. Ensure navigation and access to information is simple and easy. Use a search engine with keyword enquiry. The most frequently asked questions that employees normally ask are the ones to ensure you have written good content answers for on the portal. Keep these answers up to date, relevant and fresh and you will save everyone time.

5. Hire an HR Shared Services Team Director and Team Leader EARLY

Sadly, all too often companies make the mistake of leaving it until their new HR Service Centre is up and running before hiring the HR Service Director, and team leaders this can have a major impact on go-live success. It is a mistaken belief that it is costly to hire these roles early. Particularly if they are an additional cost to a headcount not yet saved elsewhere in the organisation.

My counter proposal is to hire these pivotal roles early. Go-live success if pivotal to select those who are change agents, good at stakeholder engagement + employee relations, and particularly strong on the delivery of customer service satisfaction: the most important metric there is! Make them part of your pre Go-Live project team, conducting knowledge transfer, engaging early with key stakeholders and hiring the team. If they are involved in this it will build a stronger psychological contract and a vested interest to build the best team, the best processes, lay the best foundations for the new house right from the start. That’s actually cost effective!

6. Be clear on HR roles for the new HR Model

The HR Community will have one question on their mind as you announce your HR Transformation program: What’s in it for me? Behind that question lies their hierarchy of needs: What happens to me, when, what are the opportunities/options for me, and what if there are no opportunities for me? Don’t pretend that these questions can remain unanswered. Don’t leave the elephant in the room unannounced. Don’t lose trust. Acknowledge that their questions are relevant and real. Be honest.

You may not have all the answers yet but do your best to outline the road-map and the 3 routes to be taken:
a – you can be selected for a role in the new model,
b – you can grow your CV in change and project management,
c – there is no clear role yet defined that we can see for you.

However, if you stay and help with knowledge transfer, a fair and respectful package and support will be there for you if ultimately no suitable roles match for you.

7. Change Management is Key

Don’t underestimate change management or the time it takes for go-live success. Give quality time to this. Behaviours don’t change on paper or after a single slide deck presentation. You are promoting a new concept and at first, it seems just a concept, a rather uncomfortable concept. Until people see how it works for them. There is a change for line managers to become more empowered and empowering as People Managers.

Have the courage to spend time with HR to help them through their personal transition. They need to accept that the change must come from them.

8. Rule of 8: communicate, communicate, communicate

In turbulent change, you can never over communicate, especially if you want consistent go-live success.

When the game is changing, the old rules and framework will not be the same anymore, this is where you have to help the team to take it all in and to adjust to the changing environment. People often don’t hear, and sometimes don’t want to hear, the first message of change. They just don’t take it in. So say it again and again and again but with the same core message. Repeat it 8 times or more, nearly everyone will hear it, internalises it and recognises it as their new terms of reference.

9. Think of knowledge transfer as a joint project team

For go-live success, create a project management team mindset with a clear charter and purpose. It’s about collaboration, it’s not about wanting to let employees in that country down. This approach sets up conditions for success.
Spend time and money doing as much face-to-face/voice-to-voice knowledge transfer and training as you can. It’s about giving and receiving the gift of knowledge and it can actually be a reward for an employee to get the opportunity go to another country to do this.

Steer clear of any connotations of “taking over”, “raiding their brains”, “us and them”. They set an unhealthy atmosphere for the project and must be confronted early if they arise.

10. Go-Live is just the start!

Check that the new roles, systems and processes are working, especially beneath the surface. Ensure that people are trained for their new roles and that they have actually made the behavioural transition from old state model to new state new model and new actions.

Actions are everything. Read verbal and non-verbal signs. Praise adoption and good examples of the new ways of working. Encourage customer feedback on the service and be quick to improve the service where needed. Nip the bad habits in the bud and the signs of old ways of working via firm, constructive feedback with SMART examples.

Take time to positively celebrate Go-Live day with a drink and a cake as a milestone achieved. It marks the end of the beginning; the start of a new life-cycle of continuous operational excellence.

Simon Brown Associates

Simon@simonbrownassociates.com
www.simonbrownassociates.com

To discuss further, you can email me on James@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about James Cumming our change and business transformation specialist here.

Transform Your HR Strategy: A Powerful Guide to Thriving on a Global Scale

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Transform Your HR Strategy: A Powerful Guide to Thriving on a Global Scale

Transform Your HR Strategy: A Powerful Guide to Thriving on a Global Scale, a catchy title? But, how many times have you been on the receiving end of a fabulous new ‘global initiative’ created by your US colleagues? It’s rolled out with lots of enthusiastic fanfare only for it to be received badly over here in Europe, as they haven’t taken into consideration cultural implications, the legal framework, consultation with works councils, translation into local languages or all of the above?

Frustrating, isn’t it? How can you Transform Your HR Strategy?

I’m certain all senior HR professionals that work in multinational companies parented in the US will be familiar with the stereotype of US leaders imposing global programmes and change initiatives with a one size fits all approach, on the rest of the world. (Incidentally, Donald Trump isn’t doing much to dispel this myth about US culture at the moment!). This can obviously cause a lot of frustration for non-US HR leaders and can result in failed initiatives and disengaged employees that feel their employer doesn’t understand their needs.

When you find yourself on the receiving end of the latest great idea, it is easy to feel that your stateside colleagues are wrong to roll out programmes without understanding the local markets and that they just don’t understand the complexity of employment law outside of the US (or indeed they just enjoy making your job more difficult!).

However, as HR leaders operating in increasingly global markets, it is incumbent upon us to work together with our colleagues not only in the US but across the globe. It’s only by working in this way that we can overcome cultural, technical, legal and process challenges in different jurisdictions to deliver lasting change. I would suggest we need to take a closer look at our role in that rather than directing a few choice words across the pond.

In my experience, US leaders in US parented companies often just can’t comprehend the complexity in other jurisdictions. They are simply are not familiar with the industrial relations framework and employment law landscape outside of their own country. When they learn about it, they are often disbelieving of how complex some jurisdictions can be in relation to the US.

It is absolutely true that some jurisdictions are substantially more complex from an industrial relations and employment law perspective than others. There is a spectrum of employee-centric to employer-centric employment law frameworks in different parts of the world – the US is at one end of that spectrum with it being very employer friendly, with little employment law restrictions (except in the state of California – known as the ‘France of the US’) and therefore it allows US organisations to drive change quickly and at a reasonable financial cost.

The real France, for example, is at the other end of the spectrum where the labour code, derived from a long standing socialist culture is firmly in favour of protecting employees’ rights – any kind of organisational change that will impact employees can take months of negotiation with the works councils and comparatively be much more expensive to implement than it would have been in the US. The UK lies somewhere in the middle on this spectrum with a healthy employment law framework to protect the rights of employees but with enough flexibility to enable organisations to move forward with their plans without debilitating legal hurdles or cost.

So how can we avoid these pitfalls to become more effective at rolling out global initiatives, locally?

If you have a senior team of collaborative HR and business leaders, global organisations are able to celebrate and take the best from each culture. There are some very easy ways to do this; making sure that all geographies and cultures are represented on change teams is an obvious first step; taking the right amount of time to test with a global audience new initiatives before a roll out helps to refine the end product and ensure it can meet the needs of the whole workforce. Frequent, open and honest dialogue in an environment that listens to others perspectives is the key to ensuring all voices are heard and all corners of the globe are represented.

It’s not helpful to US colleagues to continuously hear that they can’t do something because of the ‘law’ in a specific jurisdiction as often that’s simply not true. Due to this non-US HR leaders need to be solutions focussed and explain how something can be achieved within the boundaries of the legal frameworks in different jurisdictions. Never say never – just tell them how it can be done even if it will take time and cost more!

Finally, my advice to any senior HR professionals that want to transform your HR strategy and are working in a multi-national company is to embrace – as a core part of their role – the need to educate, educate, educate US colleagues to ensure that enough time is planned in advance to manage the legal requirements to consult and the needs of local markets when making any kind of organisational change. Have a ‘summary of employment law outside of the US’ presentation in your back pocket ready to be adapted and shared with your US colleagues when the occasion presents itself.

Working in a global environment can be challenging but it is so rewarding when an organisation takes the right steps to ensure that its people initiatives do meet the needs of a global workforce and HR leaders play a vital and exciting role in making that happen.

This is a guest article, written by Coleen Highfield, who is Vice President of HR (Europe and Africa) at MoneyGram International. You can get in touch with her via LinkedIn by following this link…

To discuss further, you can email me on James@refind.co.uk

You can view more about James Cumming our change and business transformation specialist here.

The Impact of a New Labour Government Changes on Business

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With the Labour Party back in power, businesses across the UK are gearing up for changes.

Those changes could shake up the economic and regulatory landscape. In this blog, we’ll dive into what these changes might mean for businesses, particularly in recruitment and leadership roles.

Looking Back: What Happened Last Time Labour Was in Charge?

The last time Labour was in government (1997-2010) under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, we saw some big shifts:

  1. National Minimum Wage: Introduced to tackle low pay. It was great for workers but meant higher costs for businesses, especially smaller ones.
  2. Workers’ Rights: Labour boosted rights with better maternity and paternity leave and capped working hours with the Working Time Directive.
  3. Education and Skills: They poured money into education and skills training, which eventually helped create a more skilled workforce.

These changes give us a clue about how Labour might steer the ship this time around.

Labour’s Current Plans: What’s on the Horizon?

Labour’s manifesto is packed with plans that could impact businesses. Here are a few key points:

  1. Green New Deal: A big push towards a green economy. This could open up opportunities in renewable energy and green tech. But, might also mean more costs for traditional industries due to stricter environmental rules.
  2. Workers’ Rights and Pay: Raising the minimum wage to £15 per hour and beefing up workers’ rights. This could hike up wage bills. On the flip side, happier workers could mean higher productivity.
  3. Tax Reforms: Increasing corporate tax rates and introducing a financial transactions tax might hit profits. However, more public investment in infrastructure and services could drive economic growth.

What This Means for Recruitment

The recruitment sector is likely to see a few shifts due to Labour’s policies:

  1. Demand for Green Jobs: The Green New Deal is expected to create a boom in jobs. These will be related to renewable energy, sustainability, and environmental management. Recruitment agencies will need to tap into these new areas.
  2. Fair Employment Practices: With a stronger focus on workers’ rights, there’ll be more emphasis on fair recruitment practices, which might mean stricter compliance and more transparent hiring processes.
  3. Skills Development: Labour’s push for better education and training means a more skilled workforce. Recruitment agencies will have a larger pool of qualified candidates but will need to stay on top of new qualifications and training programs.

Leadership Roles: What’s Changing?

Leadership roles will also need to adapt to the new government’s direction:

  1. Ethical Leadership: With Labour’s focus on social justice and equality, there’ll be more pressure on business leaders to show ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility.
  2. Adaptability and Change Management: Leaders will need to be good at handling change as businesses navigate new regulations, tax reforms, and shifts in the labour market. Building a culture of resilience and adaptability will be key.
  3. Sustainability Focus: Executives will need to make sustainability a priority in their strategies, aligning their business practices with the government’s environmental goals.

How It Could All Go Wrong for Labour

While Labour’s plans are ambitious, there are potential pitfalls:

  1. Economic Slowdown: Higher corporate taxes and increased regulations could slow down economic growth, leading to lower business investment and job creation.
  2. Implementation Challenges: Implementing wide-ranging reforms is complex and could face bureaucratic delays, mismanagement, or resistance from various sectors.
  3. Political Instability: Internal party conflicts or a lack of support from key stakeholders could derail Labour’s agenda, leading to policy reversals or watered-down reforms.

How Long Will It Take to See Changes?

Change doesn’t happen overnight, and the timeline for Labour’s policies to take effect will vary:

  1. Short-Term: Some changes, like increases in the minimum wage, might be implemented quickly but could also lead to immediate cost pressures on businesses.
  2. Medium-Term: Tax reforms and investments in infrastructure and public services might take a few years to roll out and start showing benefits.
  3. Long-Term: Initiatives like the Green New Deal and education reforms could take a decade or more to fully materialise and impact the economy.

London skyline with Big Ben. Using this image to accompany a blog about the new UK Government Labour.

How Can Businesses Best Prepare?

Preparation is key to navigating the upcoming changes:

  1. Stay Informed: Keep up to date with government announcements and understand how new policies might affect your industry.
  2. Invest in Skills: Focus on training and upskilling your workforce to meet new industry demands, particularly in green technologies and sustainable practices.
  3. Adaptability: Build a flexible business model that can quickly adapt to regulatory changes and economic shifts.
  4. Engage in Dialogue: Participate in industry associations and engage with policymakers to voice concerns and suggestions, helping shape the implementation of new policies.
  5. Sustainability Practices: Integrate sustainability into your business strategy to align with the government’s environmental goals and appeal to increasingly eco-conscious consumers.

Wrapping Up

Labour’s return to power is set to bring significant changes to the UK business scene. While there are challenges ahead, like higher operational costs and more regulations, there are also plenty of opportunities, especially in green industries and through a more skilled workforce. For the recruitment sector, staying adaptable will be crucial to helping businesses find the talent they need. And for business leaders, focusing on ethical practices, adaptability, and sustainability will be more important than ever. By preparing for these changes, businesses can set themselves up for success in this new political and economic landscape.

OUR FOCUS ON LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIPS

At re:find we have been in Executive Search for over 20 years. We believe that recruitment is not a one-off transaction but rather a long-term partnership. We aim to build long-term relationships with our clients, providing ongoing support and advice to help them find and retain the best talent for their organisation.

In addition, as a business, we understand that every organisation is unique and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to recruitment. That’s why we offer bespoke recruitment solutions that are tailored to meet the specific needs of each client. Whether you need help with a single hire or a full recruitment campaign, we can help.

We are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality service. As part of this, we ensure that we take the time to understand your organisation’s culture and values, as well as the specific skills and experience needed for each role.

For more information on our executive search practice and our CCS framework
please get in touch with our Head of Interim, Sam Dyde. 

Please visit our website to see more of our knowledge hub: https://refind.co.uk/