Health Insurance Recommendations
We educate business leaders on how to make better decisions on healthcare by teaching them the economics and underlying problems rooted in the foundation of a typical health insurance program.
Salary Benchmarking & Total Compensation Consulting
Blackrock Benefits Helps You Stay Competitive In Constantly Changing Environments
What Is Salary Benchmarking?
Salary benchmarking is the process of comparing your employees’ pay against market data from similar roles, industries, and geographic regions. When done well, it gives you a clear picture of where your compensation stands—and what adjustments might be needed to attract the right people and keep the ones you already have.
Most businesses set salaries based on instinct, past precedent, or whatever it took to close the last offer. That approach works until it doesn’t—and the moment it stops working is usually when a key employee walks out the door with a better offer in hand. Salary benchmarking replaces guesswork with data, giving you a defensible, consistent framework for every compensation decision you make.
What Is a Total Compensation Strategy?
Base salary is just one piece of what employees actually receive. A total compensation strategy accounts for everything of value in the employment relationship: base pay, bonuses, health and retirement benefits, paid time off, equity, and any other perks your company offers.
The businesses that win the talent competition aren’t always the ones paying the highest salaries—they’re the ones packaging compensation most effectively. A well-designed total compensation strategy lets you compete intelligently, communicate your value clearly to candidates, and make sure employees actually understand what they’re earning.
At Blackrock Benefits, we help you build a total compensation strategy that reflects your company’s goals, your industry’s norms, and your employees’ real needs.
Signs Your Compensation Strategy Needs Attention
Not sure if it’s time for a compensation analysis? Here are some common signals:
• You’ve lost multiple employees to competitors in the last 12 months and pay came up in exit interviews
• You’re consistently losing candidates at the offer stage without a clear reason why
• Your salary ranges were set years ago and haven’t been formally reviewed since
• Different managers are setting pay differently for similar roles
• You’re about to enter a period of significant hiring or expansion
• Employees are asking more questions about pay—or talking about it openly
If any of these sound familiar, a compensation review is a smart next step.
Our Compensation Consulting Process
Every company is different, which is why Blackrock Benefits doesn’t hand you a generic salary report and call it a day. Our compensation consulting process is built around your specific business, workforce, and competitive landscape.
Here’s how we approach it:
Understand your business and goals. We start by learning about your company—your industry, your workforce, your growth plans, and the talent market you’re competing in. Compensation strategy can’t be built in a vacuum.
Gather and analyze market data. We pull from reliable, current compensation data sources to build a benchmark that’s relevant to your roles and region. We’re comparing you against companies that are actually competing for the same talent—not just industry averages that may not apply to your situation.
Audit your current compensation structure. We take a close look at what you’re currently paying, how those decisions were made, and where gaps or inconsistencies exist. This step alone often surfaces some eye-opening findings.
Build your compensation bands. Using the benchmark data and your internal review, we help you define pay ranges for each role or job family—ranges that are market-competitive, internally equitable, and financially sustainable for your business.
Develop your total compensation strategy. Pay bands are just one component. We help you think through how base salary, bonuses, benefits, and other rewards work together to form a compelling overall offer.
Ongoing support. The market doesn’t stand still, and neither should your compensation strategy. We’re available to revisit and refresh your benchmarks on a regular basis as your business evolves.
Advise Unique Situations
Working with many software and technologies companies has given us empirical experience in designing custom benefit plans that are as rich and dynamic as the company itself.
Employee Benefits Benchmarking
Blackrock Benefits specializes in creating and analyzing your unique workplace to find the right balance between benefits and compensation.
Compensation Consulting
Blackrock Benefits works with businesses just like yours to learn what the best ways are to reward your employees accurately and effectively. We want everyone to feel like a winner here.
Everyone loves a good compensation plan.
When it comes down to it, your employees work with you in exchange for compensation. Many industries suffer from headhunting and talent management so having a great compensation structure in place prevents core talent from leaving when you need them most.
A Good Compensation Plan Could Save You Money
We help you both recognize the mistakes most commonly made in compensation and all the hidden secrets of salary negotiation. With a smart plan in place, we can help mitigate lost talent, expensive raises and rumors flying around the office.
FAQs About Salary Benchmarking
What data is used in salary benchmarking?
Benchmarking draws on compensation surveys, labor market reports, and industry-specific data sources that track what employers are actually paying for comparable roles. The quality of the benchmark depends heavily on how well your peer group is defined—industry, company size, and geography all matter.
How often should you review your compensation?
Most organizations benefit from an annual review, ideally timed before budgeting season so you can plan for any needed adjustments. You may also want to benchmark when entering a new market, adding new job families, or responding to significant turnover.
Is salary benchmarking only for large companies?
Not at all. Small and mid-sized businesses often benefit the most from benchmarking because they have less room to absorb the cost of a bad hire or unexpected turnover. Having a data-backed compensation structure helps level the playing field when competing against larger employers.
What’s the difference between salary benchmarking and a compensation analysis?
Benchmarking is the process of comparing your pay to the external market. A compensation analysis typically goes further—looking at both external market positioning and internal pay equity to give you a complete picture of how your compensation structure is working.
How does total compensation consulting differ from just reviewing salaries?
A total compensation review looks at everything employees receive—base pay, bonuses, benefits, retirement contributions, paid time off, and other perks—and evaluates how those elements work together. It’s a broader lens that helps you compete on more than just salary.