Unlocking the benefits through participation

Mercer’s salary surveys provide you with base pay information along side short-term and long-term incentive information. We provide you with both target information — which is important for design — and actual payouts—which helps you assess and measure the competitiveness of the value actually delivered to an employee.

While you can simply purchase access to this data, providing your data by participating in Mercer surveys helps you save money. In fact, by participating in the survey prior to purchasing, you will typically save 50% or more on the price of the survey. That’s a significant savings!

Beyond the cost savings though, there are numerous benefits to choosing to participate in Mercer surveys.

• Influence and impact: Participating in salary surveys gives companies a voice and the opportunity to influence the survey methodology and scope. You can provide feedback on the survey design, suggest improvements, and ensure the survey captures the most relevant data points. By actively participating with your data and input, you are improving the survey process and making it more valuable for your company and other participants.
• Data accuracy and relevance: By participating in salary surveys, you can contribute to Mercer’s overall data infrastructure. This helps improve the accuracy of surveys and ensures they are comprehensive and reflect real-world industries and practices. By including your up-to-date and relevant data, you improve the quality and usefulness of the survey results.

Do you even need salary surveys?

You might think your business has a good handle on what you need to offer your employees to stay competitive. However, with a constantly fluctuating economy, ever-changing unemployment rates, scarcity of skills, and rapidly advancing technology, it would be nearly impossible for any HR department to stay on top of everything.

With the evolution of new technology and the changes in consumer expectations, the competition for different types of talent changes frequently. That translates to companies paying more, or less, for different jobs as the supply and demand of labor flexes. Salary surveys will capture those changes and allow you to make smart investments in your talent.

An annual assessment of how your benchmark jobs compare to the market is critical to staying competitive.  

Accurate data is imperative, but how do you find the right salary surveys for you

Here’s what to look for in a quality salary survey

You know you need salary surveys to stay competitive, but how do you know which company is the best fit for your organization? Here are six questions you should ask.

What jobs are included in the survey? 

A salary survey will only be useful to you if it includes jobs that fit within your organization. Most survey providers include lists of the positions and job descriptions included in the survey. Read the job descriptions carefully to find the best matches. If you get a high enough percentage of matching jobs, the survey is likely a good fit for your company.

Who participates in the survey?

No two surveys, even within the same industry, are the same. Knowing what companies have participated in a survey can help you make a relevant choice. If the participants are from companies that closely match yours in revenue, industry, location, number of employees, etc., it could be a good option. You also want to make sure there are enough participants.

How is the data collected?

Understanding the methodology behind a survey can help you feel more confident in its data. A reputable survey provider will follow the guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. These guidelines are as follows:

• Data must be at least 90 days old
• The survey must be conducted by a third party, such as a consulting firm
• No single company should represent more than 25% of any statistic reported
• Each statistic reported must have at least five companies reporting data
• Data must be aggregated so that no single company can be identified

Do you have industry specialization? 

For routine jobs found at most companies, like accounting, IT, or HR,  a general industry survey will work. However, if your industry has a unique specialization, you will want to use industry-specific surveys. While industry surveys typically have a smaller number of participants, those participants are all part of your industry, which makes the data more significant.

Some industry surveys include specific information only relevant to that industry. For example, only healthcare surveys include information on the various types of pay that apply to nurses.

What data scopes/cuts are available?

Being able to dissect the data to better align with your company’s needs will give you more valuable information. The best surveys will have enough data so that you can filter down to refined results, such as geographic area, role, industry, or pay elements.

How do I participate in a salary survey?

Participating in a salary survey is a commitment. You will need to take time to analyze your organization’s jobs. Make sure the survey vendor gives you enough time to complete this task while also making the process as easy as possible. You can inquire about any tools they offer to streamline the participation process.

What makes Mercer surveys different?

It’s a fair question to ask. Why participate in and purchase Mercer surveys with all the choices available to you? There are, in fact, many differentiators that set Mercer apart from other survey providers, and here are a few:

History of reliability

Mercer has a long history of providing insight, data, and consulting services with excellence and integrity. Any business activities we have gone through, such as acquiring a company, have been handled with extreme care to minimize the impact on both our clients and the employees involved. With our global reach, deep industry experience, and multifaceted solution portfolio, Mercer is the best choice for providing consistent, reliable data and insights to help you make decisions today that will let your organization thrive in the future.

Human resources is our business

Today many sources of information — salary data included — are technology companies or data aggregators, where their focus and business is the platform that aggregates or delivers the data. Our focus is the data itself, making sure it’s accurate and reliable and provides organizations with the insights they need today and for the future.

Growth is a priority

Ensuring our data set continues to grow and reflect the current jobs in the labor market is a top priority for our survey teams. For example, in the premier US compensation data set, Mercer Benchmark Database, grew by 1.5 million employees in 2023 — a 13% increase from 2022. That increase led to a 9% increase in reportable position. Not only are we the largest US database but we publish our data earlier in the year, allowing you to start your future planning earlier.

We make participating in Mercer surveys easy

Participation at Mercer means you tell us what’s happening in your organization, from what you pay and how you allocate vacation time to how you move people. Our team then reviews and aggregates all the information to produce the benchmark data you need to make decisions with confidence.

We provide support and direction along the way, regardless of the collection method. However, many of our surveys have switched to Data Connector, which has vastly simplified the participation process. This means you can submit one comprehensive file that automatically makes you a participant in many surveys. The days of having to complete individual submissions for different salary surveys are long gone. 

Data Connector offers numerous other benefits, including:

• Built-in delegation: Assign access with secure, role-based user authentication
• Increased job match accuracy: Proprietary algorithm suggests matches or you can browse the online job catalog for unique jobs needing extra attentio
• AI-powered validation: Automated error detection and correction with guided alerts and immediate verification
• Real-time tracking: Stay up-to-date with instant visibility to work-in-process across sections, countries, and companies

Now is the time to participate

Take a look at our ecommerce portal, imercer, to find the survey that’s right for your organization. A good place to start is with our Mercer Benchmark Database, which covers a vast majority of the jobs in any organization, paired with the relevant industry specific salary survey. Each survey page will have details, such as included jobs, sample participant lists, and participation timeline and process.    

Beyond Salaries...

Beyond salary surveys, Mercer has a comprehensive catalog of off-the-shelf data and reports covering topics across the world of talent strategy, such as turnover, policies and practices, and broad-based benefits. Of course, we have a deep data set for North America, but also collect and report on salaries and policies and practices across the globe. Depending on what you are looking for, our data can be filtered by a variety of factors, such as geography, financial metrics, and organization size.

Head to the Participation Station or call us at 866-605-1031 with any questions!