Getting the Most Value from Your Banking Compensation Survey By Rhonda Snyder Pearl Meyer Over the last year, banks and financial institutions faced higher than normal turnover, and compensation decisions continue to be crucial. As the economy changes during these uncertain times, employers are dealing with continued pressure on compensation levels. This is where a banking compensation survey can be helpful: supplying recent data on current practices for pay at all levels in the organization. However, they are not all equal in terms of the value they provide to your HR team. There are several key items to look for to get the most from any survey participation and/or purchase. The best survey will be continually evolving, based on feedback from participants on evolving positions and trends in the industry. To get the maximum benefit from the data supplied, certain breakouts such as geography, asset size, and ownership model are important. Surveys developed with input from resources such as the Economic Research Institute (ERI) and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will be more comprehensive. When it comes to using the data at your disposal, the most obvious application is hiring – and increasingly in retention and dealing with salary compression. Employees expect to be compensated at the “going market rate” for comparable positions, and employees themselves are savvier than ever regarding compensation as access to online salary data sources is becoming more common. However, there are additional pay issues at play in your institution where survey data can be helpful, particularly in informing the development of comprehensive compensation philosophy and strategy. HR and the compensation committee can work together on an approach that serves the organization over the long term, with data providing important context. Some important questions to work on together include: • What is our market pricing strategy? • Are our philosophy and strategy the same across all levels in the institution? • Is there an existing salary structure and/or incentive plan(s)? How are they set compared to the market? • Do we have differences in geographic markets? What positions in our institution are geographically sensitive – or sensitive to on-site versus remote work models? Then, your HR teams can use survey data for specific joblevel analysis at a more granular level. Benchmark jobs, which are common to the industry, have a standard and consistent set of responsibilities from one organization to another, and for which there is sufficient data to price in a www.coloradobankers.org 4
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