Smooth data gathering process gives best results for compensation planning
4/24/2024
Irja Rae, Figure Baltic Advisory leading partner
In March, we kicked off the survey season, and pre-seminars for our annual compensation survey took place in all Baltic countries. Clients say that the process of compiling survey data creates value for the organisation, as it provides a good overview of roles and organises the relationships and connections between roles.
In recent years, organisations have expanded vigorously, and HR managers may have lost track of what is being done in any specific role, how the skills of people in particular positions have grown, and whether the growth is sufficient to decide in favour of a new job family level? Increasingly, organisations have given the responsibility for making salary decision proposals to team leaders. For good decision-making, leaders should be confident that the positions within their area of responsibility are correctly compared with corresponding market positions. Therefore, why not get a clear picture of roles during the job family classification process and involve leaders as contributors and later as savvy users.
We covered the topic of how to conduct a job analysis in a recent blog post here. Now some details about the data gathering process.
At the Estonian pre-seminar, Terje Kuusik, the head of compensation from Telia Estonia shared how the leading telecom has structured the process of compiling survey data in their company. Here is how the system is built up:
Stage 1: Planning
The process starts with the creation of a tailored schedule aligning with Figure’s timeline, HR business partners as well as business controllers get the update on changes in job families relevant to Telia compared to 2024.
Stage 2: Preparation
Next critical step involves circulating data files amongst HR managers for collaborative work with leaders, encompassing employee data, position changes, and modifications in work families, thereby laying a solid foundation for data gathering in businesses.
Stage 3: Engaging managers
Conversations with leaders are crucial, engaging them in the process, explaining the reasons behind changes, examining job roles in detail, and ensuring fairness within the organization. They are essential when there’s a significant change in job responsibilities or when new positions are introduced. A unified effort is made throughout the organization to synchronize roles within the same work families.These discussions are important also in the context of implementing survey results later when the survey is ready.
Stage 4: Data comparison and collection
A cross-unit data comparison is conducted to align with Telia work families (Telia company has established its internal job architecture), positioning the work relative to other similar roles within the organisation. This comparison lays the groundwork for proposing changes and moving towards data collection, which includes forwarding work families and levels to the financial controller and incorporating essential salary data.
The goal of the data collection process is to provide correct and internally validated company data to the survey.
Figure Baltic Advisory thanks Terje Kuusik from Telia Company. Based on both her insights as well as our experience, we recommend the following for a smooth data gathering process:
- Start early. An early start ensures ample time for thorough planning and execution.
- Involve managers. Engaging leaders from the onset fosters a collaborative process.
- Segment work families. Breaking down work families into manageable categories simplifies the evaluation.
- Ensure calibration. Calibrating assessments among leaders or by a senior leader promotes consistency.
- Assess the typical work performed in a position. Evaluation should be based on the typical tasks performed in a role, not the individual currently holding the position.
- Focus on job content. Decisions should be grounded in the actual content of the work, not the job title.
- Evaluate the job as it is now. The job should be assessed in its current state, not what it could be or how it might change in the future.
- Determining the suitable work family involves asking:
- What is the fundamental knowledge or qualifications required for this job?
- What are the most important requirements when recruiting a new employee for this position (which field of education, experience is more significant)?
- Does this job include most of the essential duties of a higher level?
- How does this job compare to other jobs within the same work family in the organization?
As humans, we are prone to falling into the trap of the planning fallacy, underestimating the time it takes to do things. Let's try to take that into account and start early for a smooth process.