Compensation Benchmarking Template for Salaries, Bonuses, Benefits

Compensation benchmarking is the process of comparing your organization’s pay structures (salaries, bonuses, benefits, etc.) against market data for similar roles.

This practice helps ensure your pay is competitive and fair, reducing the risk of underpaying (which drives talent away) or overpaying (which strains budgets).

From a strategic perspective, effective benchmarking is a key HR tool for attracting and retaining talent and maintaining employee morale. Savvy companies treat compensation benchmarking as a lever to strengthen their talent acquisition and retention strategy, and even their overall employer brand.

In short, aligning compensation with market standards supports organizational goals by keeping your workforce satisfied and your pay practices financially sound.

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Example Compensation Benchmarking Templates

Below we provide example templates outlining compensation components for various job types (technology, sales, operations) at different seniority levels (entry, mid, senior).

These tables illustrate base salary ranges, typical bonus or incentive structures, equity compensation, and common benefits for USA-based roles. Actual values should be adjusted based on current market data, industry, and location.

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Technology Roles (Software Engineering Example)

Tech roles often feature high base salaries and significant equity, with moderate bonuses. For instance, an entry-level software engineer in the U.S. has a median base salary around $98K, while a senior software engineer’s median base is about $138K. Equity (stock-based compensation) is a key component in tech, increasing at higher levels to attract and retain skilled engineers.

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Tech roles commonly receive equity grants (often as Restricted Stock Units or stock options). Bonus percentages tend to be modest (e.g. 10% of base) since base pay and equity are primary; however, leadership positions might have higher bonus targets. Benefits are typically generous across all levels, and many tech companies offer additional perks (remote work options, wellness programs, etc.) on top of standard health insurance and retirement plans.

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Sales Roles (Sales & Account Management Example)

Sales roles rely heavily on variable incentives. A substantial portion of pay comes from commissions tied to performance (e.g. meeting quotas). It’s common to use a base salary + commission structure (often a 50/50 or 60/40 split between base and commission at target performance). This means on-target earnings (OTE) can be roughly double the base salary when sales goals are met. Senior sales roles may have higher base pay but still maintain significant incentive pay, along with occasional equity grants for leadership.

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In sales compensation, the commission structure is critical. Targets and accelerators (higher commission rates for surpassing quota) are used to motivate performance. Base salaries increase with seniority, but even senior sales leaders typically have at least half of their total compensation tied to performance incentives. Equity is not common for junior sales roles; however, high-level sales executives at startups or public companies might receive stock options or grants as part of long-term incentives. Standard benefits (insurance, retirement, PTO) are usually provided to sales staff just as for other employees.

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Operations Roles (Operations/Administration Example)

Operations roles (e.g. business operations, project managers, administrative managers) tend to have more stable pay with a focus on base salary and smaller bonuses. For example, operations managers in the U.S. earn about $78K on average base pay, often with a modest annual bonus or profit-sharing. Equity awards are less common in operations, except at higher executive levels. The emphasis is on steady salary growth and standard benefits to reward experience and tenure.

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Operations roles typically offer smaller incentive bonuses compared to sales, reflecting their focus on efficiency and support rather than direct revenue generation. Equity is usually reserved for upper management or not offered at all, especially in traditional industries. However, in some companies, senior operations leaders might participate in profit-sharing or receive stock if they are part of the executive team. Benefits packages for operations employees are generally standard across the company, including health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off. PTO often increases with tenure, rewarding long-term employees in operational roles.

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Common Sources of Compensation Data for Benchmarking

When building or updating compensation benchmarks, HR professionals draw on multiple data sources to ensure accuracy. Below is a summary of commonly used compensation data sources:

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• Mercer Total Remuneration Surveys: Comprehensive annual salary and benefits surveys covering a wide range of industries and countries. Mercer’s datasets are considered a global standard for market compensation data, providing detailed pay benchmarks (often with percentile breakdowns) for numerous roles.
  
  
• Radford Surveys (Aon): Industry-specific compensation surveys, historically the gold standard for tech and life sciences sectors. Radford collects detailed information on base pay, bonuses, equity, and benefits via extensive employer surveys. Many tech companies use Radford data to set competitive salary bands and equity grants.
  
  
• Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Data: WTW (formerly Towers Watson) offers well-regarded compensation surveys and databases similar to Mercer’s. These provide broad market pay data across job families and regions, and are frequently used by large organizations as a reliable benchmarking source.
  
  
• Glassdoor: A popular public platform where employees anonymously share salary information. Glassdoor provides crowdsourced salary data searchable by job title and location. It’s useful for a general market pulse, but since the data is self-reported and unverified it can be inaccurate or inconsistent. Employers may consult Glassdoor to understand candidate expectations, while noting its limitations.
  
  
• Levels.fyi: A crowdsourced compensation database focused on tech industry roles. Levels.fyi is known for breaking down pay by company and level, and it verifies submissions with offer letters or pay stubs for greater accuracy. This source provides granular data on base, bonus, and equity (especially for software engineering and product roles), offering real-time insights for competitive tech talent markets.
  
  
• Internal Benchmarks & Offers: Many organizations rely on their own internal compensation data as a benchmark. This includes analyzing current employee salaries and recent offer data for new hires. Internal data (e.g. what your company had to offer to successfully hire a software engineer or sales manager) reflects real-time market dynamics. In fact, tracking candidate offer acceptances can serve as an up-to-date indicator of market rates. Companies use this alongside external surveys to ensure both market competitiveness and internal equity.