Client
A bespoke UK HR Consultancy working strategically and providing expert support and hands on execution.
Solution
- A bespoke levelling structure for the team and all consultancy roles levelled.
- Recommended competitive pay ranges using recognised external benchmark data, including approaches to reward in hybrid/home working.
- A structure for how individuals could be positioned within the range based on their skills and competencies.
- A Pay Policy for transparency and governance.
- Key messaging for comms and engagement to support the CPO in sharing information with the wider business on the pay transparency journey.
Challenge
- Taking the first steps on their pay transparency journey and needed a strong foundation.
- Organisation was growing and needed a robust framework to be ready for the future.
- The consulting team were critical to business success and to grow the business there was a need to attract top talent.
Impact
- Demonstrated first steps towards pay transparency by implementing a levelling structure and pay ranges based on pay benchmarking to ensure roles were rewarded fairly, consistently and competitively in market within the Consulting team, and with principles for roll out across the organisation.
- Recognise the need for flexible reward due to different ways of working, allowing for pay differentials within role to recognise growth/development consistently.
- A clear pay policy and reward key messaging to allow greater transparency and understanding for everyone in the business and provide a framework for reward governance.
Context
Our client was a bespoke UK HR Consultancy specialising in business and payroll transformation. They required a robust pay framework and pay principles for the consulting team of experts and specialists, and keen to take the first step towards full pay transparency. They wanted to ensure they could demonstrate a fair and competitive pay structure.
Reward Heads were asked to provide expertise in setting the pay principles, levelling roles and benchmarking base pay to design pay ranges that supported individual progression and would attract and retain top talent.
The Problem
- Needed and strong foundation as they took their first steps on their pay transparency journey.
- Growing and needed a robust framework to be ready for the future wished to be able to reward consistently and competitively for both homeworking and hybrid working in a simple way.
- Consulting team needed to be able to fairly and consistently recognise development within role in the pay framework.
- Whilst the business wished to remain agile, there was a strong desire to be able to demonstrate reward structure and governance.
Which meant:
- Risks around being able to attract and retain talent in a business-critical function with no market-based reward structure.
- Risks around fairness and consistency in the future, especially at the business grew.
- Risks around a lack of robust market insight and thus retention and attraction difficulties.
- Risk around understanding of leadership, management and employee of reward strategy and approach.
The Tension
There was tension around creating a levelling and pay structure for the consulting team that could then be applied across the wider business for fairness and consistency. Whilst HR desired a more transparent reward structure there was nervousness at senior leadership level. Affordability was a concern with the potential rapid growth of the business.
What Reward Heads did
- Diagnosed the specific business challenges and how that related to the current organisational structure and culture through working with the CPO.
- Aligned the pay approach to market data through identifying appropriate benchmark pay data and agreeing the pay principles, including recognition of hybrid/home working.
- Designed a bespoke levelling structure and levelled all roles, provided recommendations on competitive pay ranges and how individuals could be positioned within the range based on their skills and competencies.
- Implemented a Pay Policy and comms and engagement brief to support the CPO in sharing information with the wider business.
Business Impact
- CPO was able to explain reward strategy to leadership, managers and employees with confidence.
- Cost impacts of annual pay review were more transparent and easier to budget for Finance.
- Business had a consistent pay approach via a Pay Policy and a Pay Governance framework.
People Impact
- Leaders and Managers were able to confidently explain pay decisions.
- The Consulting team had a fair and consistent reward structure with ability to increase pay in line with competency in role, and to reward different flexible working options.
Which resulted in …
Which means leadership can now confidently plan for pay review, understand associated costs and communicate pay decisions effectively.
Which means reward is now far more transparent in the organisation and better understood by employees.
If this feels familiar …
Organisations come to us thinking that the journey to pay transparency is a significant challenge – we break it down into manageable steps and support the business step by step in line with culture and expectations, achieving the level of transparency the business desires or needs to achieve successful outcomes for the business.
