Why Real-Time Compensation Data Matters

Hiring top talent in today’s market is no small task. Nearly 11 million job openings were posted on the last day of December 2021. Considering that 6.3 million people counted as unemployed at the time, it’s safe to say that companies are battling a highly competitive hiring field.

When deciding what to pay, your recruiting team needs to move fast and decisively to avoid losing a candidate.

But all too often, companies need to rely on outdated or incomplete compensation data. As a result, case-by-case judgment calls on what to pay become the norm.

These judgment calls are a lose-lose situation. Companies waste precious time digging through poor data and setting salaries they may not feel confident in. Candidates worry about whether a job’s salary is fair and rooted in research — weakening their trust in the employer making the offer.

Put another way: Making informed compensation decisions is your company’s golden ticket to competing in today’s tight labor market. That means making decisions that rely on real-time data and internal benchmarks. You’ll make an informed and compelling offer, saving your team time, money, and energy and on top of that, improving a candidate’s trust in your company.

Our Comp 201 guide dives deeply into implementing real-time compensation data at your company. Download it here for the full how-to.

And keep reading for more on why using real-time compensation data matters.

1. Data-Driven Compensation Structures Give You a Competitive Edge

Compensation is far more than just a salary — it also includes equity, benefits, perks, and bonuses. Unfortunately, most employees and prospective hires don’t understand the real value of their total compensation packages.

A study conducted by The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found that only 19% of employees have a high level of understanding of their benefits. What’s more, 95% of employees don’t understand their equity and 40% of total compensation is non-cash.

Using data to break down the quantified amount of a compensation package lays out the full value of compensation packages in a way that is meaningful and persuasive to employees and potential candidates.

Real-time data on the market can shed light on what companies like yours are paying for salaries, equity, bonuses, benefits, and perks. Better yet, you can cross examine that data across locations or job titles.

Today’s hiring market is moving so rapidly. It’s imperative that your company makes its offers as competitive as possible. How so? By reflecting what today’s market is paying.

Once you have collected comprehensive data, you can create compensation scenarios that allow you to easily share information with both the candidate and internal teams. These compensation scenarios also help recruiters and hiring managers explain to potential candidates the various compensation packages that could work best for the candidate going through the hiring process.

2. Recruiting Teams Can Work From Real-Time Data

Selecting a salary range for a role may feel arbitrary if your team doesn't have up-to-date information and data in front of them. Not only does this risk creating a job posting that isn't competitive, it also wastes valuable company time.

Using real-time compensation data will help your recruiting teams…

  • Remove decision fatigue – Instead of putting the burden on an internal team member to choose a salary range that seems correct, real-time comp data allows your team to make a decision based on up-to-date internal and external data. No guessing or ballparking, just the facts.
  • Reduce errors in manual compensation calculations – Calculating the complete value of a compensation package is complex. Between equity, benefits, perks, and bonuses, it’s easy to make mistakes or lean on qualitative calculations. A real-time comp data tool will allow your team the ability to experiment with different models of compensation, without sacrificing accuracy or workflow efficiency.
  • Decrease ambiguity on what to offer – By looking at what competing firms offer similar candidates, and benchmarking that against your own internal data, a clear picture will emerge of the appropriate compensation range for any given candidate.

3. Improve Employee Retention

Up-to-date internal compensation data is crucial for hiring new candidates — but it’s also key for keeping valued employees. One study published by MIT Sloan Management Review showed that toxic corporate culture and a failure to recognize employee performance factored highly in employee attrition.

And one of the top factors of toxic corporate culture included the failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Compensating your employees fairly and closing any unjust wage gaps will contribute to your employees' overall sense of morale — and willingness to stay.

Looking at the numbers from a bird’s-eye view enables you to close those gaps. In turn, your team will not only improve employee productivity and retention, but ensure that your employees feel valued and just as important as their peers.

Ready to upgrade your compensation data? Use our guide as you get started.