Three Compensation Questions a Custom Salary Survey Can Answer
A useful custom salary survey starts with a clearly defined market, relevant comparison organizations, consistent job matching, and a documented data-validation process. Each survey is designed to produce reliable, decision-ready compensation benchmarks for the roles and labor markets that matter to the client.
"Are we competitive enough to attract the people we need?"
Custom survey data benchmarks your compensation against the specific organizations you compete with for talent, not national averages. You learn exactly where you stand in your market, which roles are most exposed, and where you have competitive advantage. That clarity is the basis of every strategic compensation decision you make.
"Are we paying the roles that are most critical to us at the right level?"
Custom surveys focus data collection on the roles and job families that matter most to the organization. Instead of estimating from general market data, the organization receives compensation benchmarks for the relevant titles, responsibilities, and performance levels, with the sector and geographic specificity that generic surveys cannot provide. Healthcare employers can also use our healthcare compensation benchmarking data guide to separate provider wages, specialty surveys, shift premiums, and benefit costs.
"Is our salary structure still aligned to the market, or has it drifted?"
Markets move. Survey data ages. A custom salary survey, conducted on a defined cycle, tells you whether your pay structure has remained competitive or whether specific grades, bands, or job families have fallen behind. The trend analysis our proprietary data model provides shows you where the market is heading, not just where it is today. For public employers, pay compression diagnosis adds incumbent, supervisory, and grade relationships to the market comparison.
What You Receive: A Customized, Decision-Ready Report
Every client receives a comprehensive report with critical job market insight, designed for use directly in compensation plan development. Here is what the output looks like.
Our Five-Phase Custom Salary Survey Process
We manage every aspect of the survey process, from questionnaire design through final report presentation. You receive the data while our team manages the work.
- Define scope and objectives
- Design questionnaire
- Define participant pool
- Develop custom questions
- Create user-friendly format
- Identify participants
- Build communication plan
- Launch and manage distribution
- Develop incentives for participation
- Manage reminders and follow-up
- Review and scrub incoming data
- Normalize outliers
- Apply proprietary data model
- Analyze compensation practices
- Trend analysis and benchmarking
- Prepare findings report
- Charts, graphs, and data tables
- Competitive position analysis
- Written presentation of final report
- Actionable recommendations
- Verbal presentation to leadership
- HR team and board briefing
- Compensation plan integration guidance
- Q&A and follow-on analysis
- Ongoing access and support
Four Compensation Data Categories in Each Survey
Every custom survey report covers the relevant components of total compensation, so decisions are based on the full picture rather than base-pay averages alone. When benefits are part of the approved scope, our benefits studies can benchmark health and welfare plans, employer contributions, retirement plans, paid leave, professional development benefits, flexible-work arrangements, and executive benefits against relevant peer organizations. Higher education compensation surveys can include faculty compensation and staff pay comparisons against relevant peer institutions. Public-sector surveys can include police compensation, fire compensation, specialty assignments, certification premiums, and peer-agency comparisons when those items are included in the approved project scope.
Base Compensation
- Salary ranges by role and level
- 25th, median, and 75th percentile benchmarks
- Market position analysis by job grade
- Pay gap identification versus peers
- Five-year trend data by job family
- Geographic differential analysis
Variable Pay
- Bonus and incentive prevalence by level
- Target bonus as percentage of base
- Actual payout versus target analysis
- Incentive plan design practices
- Commission structure benchmarks (where applicable)
- Non-cash recognition program prevalence
Benefits
- Health and welfare plan prevalence and employer contribution rates
- PTO, vacation, and leave policy benchmarks
- Retirement plan type and employer match rates
- Tuition and professional development benefits
- Flexible work arrangement prevalence
- Executive benefit and perquisite practices
Total Compensation
- Total compensation valuation by role and level
- Cash versus non-cash compensation mix
- Total rewards competitive position analysis
- Organization-level total comp benchmarking
- Cost of compensation gap remediation modeling
- Total compensation communication support
10 to 12 weeks, start to finish.
We manage the full project timeline, from survey design through final presentation. Typical engagements are completed in 10 to 12 weeks, depending on scope, the number of roles, and participant response rates.
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Commission a Custom Salary Survey for Your Market
- We have developed and administered thousands of custom salary surveys over more than 30 years, making JER HR Group a leading resource for compensation data reliability and insight.
- Every survey is fully managed by our team, from questionnaire design through final presentation. You provide the scope and objectives, and we handle the remaining work.
- All clients receive a fully customized report covering base compensation, variable pay, benefits, and total compensation, formatted for direct use in compensation plan development.
- Typical engagements complete in 10 to 12 weeks. Scope, number of roles, and participant pool determine final timeline. We provide a project plan and milestone schedule at engagement start.
LET’S TALK ABOUT PEOPLE, IDEAS, AND SOLUTIONS.
If you want to recruit, engage, develop, and retain the best team in the business, get in touch with us.
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