A Guide to Conducting Meaningful Salary Surveys in South Africa
Salary surveys in South Africa are conducted for a number of reasons. Not only do companies need to ensure that they are providing their employees with fair and equitable packages (and attracting top talent to their organisations), but they also need to ensure they are not overpaying – thereby putting unnecessary pressure on payroll budgets and limiting profitability. Salary surveys provide companies with the facts they need to make the right choices when hiring new staff, giving existing staff increases and negotiating fair salary structures. For these reasons, reputable management consultancies and research companies take particular care when conducting meaningful salary surveys in South Africa. Points to note in conducting meaningful salary surveys in South Africa are:
- Take different locations into consideration: You need to compare apples with apples, so make sure that survey participants indicate where they are working (the salary that a sales manager in Johannesburg earns may differ greatly from the salary that a sales manager earns in Bloemfontein, so geographical locations need to be noted).
- Salary surveys need to be done often: Economic climates and businesses change – and so does your salary survey data. In order to conduct a meaningful salary survey, the surveys need to be done on a regular and routine basis (such as annually or bi-annually). Also make provision for new jobs in the labour market – such as digital marketing strategists, for example.
- Get a representative statistically valid number of people to complete the survey: Not only will you need a large sample of people within each job category for a valid salary survey in order to provide meaningful results, but you will also need a variety of people from different regions, backgrounds, gender, ethnicity, skills level etc. The company will also need to survey Human Resource professionals as well as managers within a company to get an accurate scope of salary structures within various organisations.
- Use the right methodology: Make sure the company you partner with for salary surveys in South Africa are using the right standards and survey methodologies to give you meaningful results. WorldatWork, for example, is a credible industry association that can provide you with these details.
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