In the fourth and final part of our Pay Review series – following our guides to market research, data wrangling, and cost cutting – we’ll look at bringing it all together to collaborate on making your final pay decisions. Because when it comes down to it, that’s the whole point of our Compensation IQ product.

Why team collaboration matters: 4 stakeholders to consider

The impact of pay reviews is far-reaching. Compensation affects budgeting, compliance, engagement, attrition, and a range of other areas – so it follows that there’s multiple stakeholders who need to be considered when making decisions about salaries. Here’s four examples, and why they need a say in the process:

1. HR: because they set pay structures & share with employees

Generally speaking, the Human Resources department takes the bulk of responsibility for the pay review process. They’ll be the ones carrying out the steps we’ve detailed in our guide so far, and generally leading on setting pay structures. They’ll also be the ones communicating changes to these pay structures to the wider workforce, delivering the news of decisions and managing employee responses.

2. Finance: because they are responsible for budgets & forecasts

Whatever pay decisions that HR recommends, the finance team has to sign them off. After all, they’re the ones responsible for budget planning and allocation, and longer-term financial planning – they have a view of the monetary ‘big picture’, as it were. Sometimes it won’t be possible to truly pay competitively, for example, so they need to be collaborated with so sustainable decisions can be made.

3. Leadership: because their strategic goals need to be factored in

When it comes to making major decisions, your leadership team always has to be considered. Even within the realm of a pay review, there’s several areas that could be considered a priority – depending on the organisation’s wider strategy – from rewarding your top talent, or minimising pay gaps. Factor in their strategic vision while drafting your proposed pay decisions, because ultimately it’s essential to get them to sign off your suggestions.

4. Legal: because they need to monitor compliance, equity & more

Speaking of pay gaps, your legal team needs to make sure certain things are above board. Equity in pay practices, compliance with national labour laws, and identifying other potential risk areas – collaborate with this part of your organisation to make sure your decision-making is sound on every possible level.

Why collaborating on pay reviews can be hard work

We hate to break it to you, but despite doing all that leg work, collaborating on finalising pay decisions can be the hardest part of the pay review process. A slow, frustrating, back-and-forth exercise where every stakeholder has a different perspective and motivation. Here’s some of the common issues:

  • Differing priorities: As discussed, your finance team will have different priorities to the HR department – budget-focused, instead of aiming for employee satisfaction. You need to find common ground, based on the data, to overcome this.
  • Unclear evidence: Are you singing from the same hymn sheet? Each team may be basing their opinions on different types or formats of data, leading to inconsistencies in what the wisest course of action really is.
  • No transparency: You’ve done the research, so you’re confident in your pay recommendations. But how easy is it for all stakeholders to view that evidence, and truly understand why certain decisions should be made?

How prioritising effective team collaboration can pay off

If all relevant stakeholders are enabled to work together, then pay reviews can really work for you. Rather than viewing them as a painful, box-ticking exercise, they can be an opportunity to strengthen your company’s goals and vision, boost satisfaction and retention, and improve performance.

Good team collaboration means your decision-making is faster, based on evidence, less likely to cause unforeseen problems, and more likely to improve overall employee satisfaction. So it’s a win-win. But the question remains, how can we help with team collaboration?

How Compensation IQ helps teams collaborate on pay reviews

Not only does Compensation IQ help you understand what the ‘right’ decisions are, the platform also comes equipped with useful collaboration tools – helping you get those decisions signed off. Here’s some of the features our platform offers:

1. Clear insights, all in one platform: no research, analysis, or headaches needed – our product combines your HR data with industry benchmarks, mapping it for you, and giving you clear answers to all of your compensation questions.

2. Relevant, reliable market insights: with the most comprehensive UK pay data on hand, you can get everyone on board with reliable evidence – it’s updated frequently, and relevant to industry, company size, location, and other variables.

3. Sharing and collaboration tools: with user-specific data downloads for working offline, to easy-to-share reports and board packs, we make it easy to present your recommendations – shortening the sign-off process considerably.

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