Wages and salary benchmarking information is critical for business members and a great opportunity for associations to deliver.
If Associations don’t deliver this information who will?

Should Associations Provide Employee Compensation Benchmarking?

Associations are in existence for many reasons but fundamentally associations have evolved to deliver what people or businesses are unable to deliver as individuals.

This will incorporate a range of activities from industry representation and political lobbying down to delivering information and services to the group that they cannot supply themselves.

Basically, it comes down to the longstanding objective of responding to the ‘wants and needs of members’.

It is natural that members will turn to their respective associations for information in order to help them to be more successful in what they do.

Associations need to wear many caps some of which may require resources that are outside their inhouse area of expertise.

Developments in technology have helped associations achieve their goals with service delivery that previously has been unavailable even just a few years ago.

Wages, salaries and remuneration are one of these areas.

The cost of employment

In most industries employment related costs are the largest of all expense categories on a profit and loss report.

Even if it is not the largest cost it is certainly in the top three expense categories for virtually all businesses.

Monitoring employment costs is vital for good management.

To do this every business needs access to critical information about what is fair compensation within their industry.

Businesses know if their remuneration packages are too low they may risk losing key staff.

If remuneration is too high it increases costs and will impact on the profitability of the business.

So where would managers reasonably expect to get this information?

Why Associations?

The reality is that if managers cannot find the information from their association then they will naturally seek out other sources.

Dr Google is the common starting point - here information is always available.

It maybe of doubtful accuracy, probably of limited practical use and never drills down to a personal level for individual employees.

What managers really need is a well-organized Wages/Salaries/ Remuneration benchmarking solution from a trusted source such as their Association.

Members require detailed industry specific categories of employment not general employment criteria.

Associations are in a perfect position to deliver this information – it is just a matter of how best to proceed forward.

Should wages and salary benchmarking be a free service?

One of the issues that arises is the cost of delivery of this critical information.

Critical comparisons of business activities are a treasured commodity to any business manager.

Crucial business information like this has a financial value.

Traditional ‘sponsorship’ methods may not necessarily be applicable.

Businesses can and will pay for quality information that is accurate and relevant.

Benchmarking nowadays is more often considered a revenue generating tool rather than a ‘free’ service.

Options may include:

• Fully sponsored – completely sponsored with no cost to the end user.
• Cost recovery – a fee is charged with the sole goal of recovering the cost of the benchmarking
• Fully commercialized – a participation fee is charged that reflects the value that is being delivered

There are many variations and hybridizations of these three options.

For example – an association may offer a free benchmarking opportunity to members but fully commercialized benchmarking for non-members.

By delivering benchmarking on a commercial basis it does allow a higher investment in attaining a top quality benchmarking outcome.

Why Business Benchmarking Solutions?

At Business Benchmarking Solutions we totally understand that you have many options for benchmarking.

It could be as simple as a bit of time spent by a staff member on an Excel spreadsheet or using an online app that professes to deliver your needs.

If your Association is committed to delivering quality then it is far more desirable to engage a benchmarking specialist with years of experience, well developed and specialized software along with highly developed online participation and delivery systems.

It may initially be an intimidating thought but using a specialist will provide solutions that are already tried and tested with systems to help your organization deliver a high-quality package for moderate effort and price.

This is where Business Benchmarking Solutions fits in!

At BBS we provide:

• Years of experience in benchmarking Wages, Salaries and Remuneration
• Highly developed software that specifically benchmarks this area
• Online delivery systems for members to participate and collect results from any global location on a 24/7 basis
• A selection of proven wages, salaries and remuneration templates that are easily customized to any industry in any location
• Systems and procedures that enable your organization to convert a desire to supply quality information to members into an organized and valued benchmarking program
• True value for both your organization as well as for your member businesses

More information

Contact BBS at sales@benchmarkingsolutions.net

Please email us for a FREE INFORMATION SHEET on “Setting Up Wages and Salaries Surveys”

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