Match frontline and licensed roles
Compare caseworkers, social workers, outreach teams and residential staff by actual duties, qualifications, experience and service setting.
The challenge
Human services jobs do not fit one standard salary survey.
Case managers, outreach coordinators, licensed social workers, residential support staff and program directors often have different responsibilities even when their job titles look alike. Their pay may be shaped by credentials, shift schedules, service geography and competition from healthcare or government employers. Meaningful benchmarking starts by matching the work.
The ASU Lodestar 2026 Nonprofit Compensation and Benefits Report covers more than 50 nonprofit positions, including comparisons by organization type such as human services and by budget size. Access to detailed benchmark data must be confirmed for each engagement.
Reflect different program models
Account for distinct service lines, community locations, supervisory levels and job responsibilities across programs.
Balance competitive pay and budgets
Review pay ranges and staff alignment alongside labor-market pressure, funding limitations and leadership oversight.
Our approach
Build a compensation study around how your programs operate.
01. Define the decisions
Clarify which jobs, locations and programs need review; whether the priority is recruitment, retention, internal alignment, leadership pay or a complete salary structure.
02. Evaluate role responsibilities
Assess job descriptions, licensure and credential requirements, reporting relationships, direct-service responsibilities and shift patterns before choosing survey matches.
03. Choose defensible benchmarks
Compare appropriate human services nonprofits and relevant public-sector, healthcare or local employers where they compete for similar talent. Document limitations in the data.
04. Develop practical pay options
Translate market findings into salary positioning, grades, pay ranges, internal alignment considerations and phased implementation options suited to funding and service priorities.
Engagement deliverables
Compensation findings built for your workforce and budget.
A project can focus on hard-to-fill case management positions, specialized licensed roles, program managers, executive compensation or an organization-wide pay structure. Depending on the agreed scope, deliverables may include peer selection criteria, documented job matches, market pricing, recommended pay ranges, budget impact scenarios and leadership-ready findings.
Explore staff compensation consultingWhy JER HR Group
Nonprofit compensation expertise for complex service workforces.
JER HR Group identifies social services organizations and NGOs among the sectors supported by its nonprofit compensation practice. Its services include staff compensation analysis, job classification studies, custom salary surveys and pay structures. We tailor the scope to program delivery, job responsibilities, external pay markets and the decisions facing HR, finance and boards.
Explore nonprofit compensation consultingHuman services compensation questions
Practical answers for nonprofit CEOs, HR directors, program leaders, CFOs and boards reviewing compensation consulting.
1. Which social services jobs can a compensation study cover?+
Depending on scope, a study can review case managers, licensed social workers, outreach staff, residential and direct-support teams, counselors, program managers, administrative staff and executive leaders. Roles should be compared using responsibilities and qualifications, not job titles alone.
2. How do you compare licensed and nonlicensed human services roles?+
Separate roles by duties, required credentials, independence, decision authority, supervisory scope and relevant hiring markets. The study should explain whether a benchmark reflects licensed clinical practice, case coordination, community outreach or a combination of responsibilities.
3. Should we benchmark only against other nonprofits?+
Not always. Comparable human services organizations are useful peers, but some clinical, administrative and frontline positions also compete with public agencies, healthcare providers and local employers. Peer choice should reflect the job and labor market, not a blanket industry rule.
4. Can a study account for grant-funded programs and shift pay?+
Yes, the agreed analysis can examine salaries across funded programs, service locations and shift patterns, including available premium-pay practices. Funding restrictions, overtime classification and legal requirements require separate organization-specific validation; a market study is not a substitute for legal advice.
5. How much does a human services compensation study cost and how long does it take?+
Fee and timing depend on the number of roles, facilities or locations, job-matching complexity, available survey data, executive-pay scope and required recommendations. A targeted review of selected positions is narrower than a multi-program compensation structure project. JER HR Group can discuss scope and prepare a proposal.
6. What information should we prepare before requesting a study?+
Useful starting materials include an organization chart, current job descriptions, program locations, job grades or salary ranges, relevant pay practices and the decisions you need to make. Identify funding and board deadlines, and agree on secure handling before transferring employee-level pay records.
Let's talk about your workforce
Make your next social services pay decision easier to support.
Whether you are benchmarking frontline roles, updating pay ranges or preparing compensation recommendations for your board, JER HR Group can help define a practical scope for your organization.
Discuss your human services compensation needs
