Salary Benchmarking & Market Pricing
Documented, defensible market data from the surveys that matter. Every match rated, every source aged and blended with a clear methodology.
Salary Benchmarking That Holds Up to Scrutiny
You cannot build a defensible compensation program on Glassdoor data and recruiter anecdotes. Salary benchmarking requires published survey data, rigorous job matching, and a methodology that produces composite market rates you can trace from source to structure.
The Barksdale Group provides salary benchmarking and market pricing services for mid-market companies, PE portfolio companies, and government contractors. We use published compensation surveys matched to your specific roles with documented quality ratings, aged to a common effective date, and blended into composite rates that anchor your salary structure.
Why Methodology Matters
The difference between good market pricing and bad market pricing is not the data. It is the decisions made between data and output.
Job matching is the foundation. A job title tells you almost nothing. "Senior Analyst" at one company is a different role than "Senior Analyst" at another. We match jobs based on scope, responsibilities, reporting relationships, and organizational context — not titles. Every match gets a quality rating (strong, moderate, weak) so you can see exactly where your data is solid and where it is directional.
We regularly see companies where the HR team matched jobs to survey benchmarks by title alone, resulting in an IT Help Desk Technician benchmarked against a Software Engineer survey job because both had "tech" in the description. That single bad match can distort an entire grade's market rate significantly.
Aging matters. Survey data reflects a specific effective date (typically the prior year). If your salary structure takes effect mid-year and your survey data is from the year prior, the data is over a year old. At typical professional role movement of 3-4% annually, that is meaningful. We age all data to a common effective date using documented aging factors.
Blending is where most analyses go wrong. When you use three survey sources for the same job and they report P50 values of $95,000, $102,000, and $88,000, the composite is not simply the average. You need to evaluate source quality, sample sizes, match confidence, and data vintage for each source. We use weighted blending with documented rationale for every weight assigned.
How We Approach Market Pricing
Survey Selection
We select survey sources appropriate to your industry, geography, and role mix. Government contractors need sources DCAA auditors recognize as credible. Technology companies need data that reflects their specific talent markets. The right portfolio typically includes 3-5 survey sources.
Job Matching and Quality Assessment
We match every benchmarked job to the appropriate survey positions, documenting the rationale and assigning a match quality rating (strong, moderate, weak). Typical mid-market engagements benchmark 40-80 unique jobs. We do not benchmark every job title; we benchmark unique roles and apply the results across equivalent positions.
Data Aging
All survey data is aged to a common effective date using documented aging factors derived from survey publisher trend data and the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Cost Index.
Multi-Source Blending
We combine data from multiple survey sources into composite market rates using weighted blending methodology. Weights reflect match quality, sample size, data vintage, and source relevance to your specific market. Every composite rate is documented with its component sources and weights.
Deliverable
The output is a market pricing workbook in Excel with formulas (not hardcoded values) that shows, for every benchmarked job: survey source, match description, quality rating, raw data point, aging factor, aged value, blending weight, and final composite rate.
Survey Sources We Work With
- Mercer Benchmark Database and Total Remuneration Survey
- Radford Global Technology Survey (now Aon)
- Western Management Group surveys
- Payscale Peer and MarketPay
- CompAnalyst
- ERI (particularly for government contractors and geographic analysis)
- SullivanCotter (for healthcare and nonprofit roles)
- Nonprofit-specific sources where applicable
What Clients Actually Receive
The market pricing workbook is the core deliverable. Every number is traceable back to its source:
| Workbook Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| Job Match Inventory | Every benchmarked job with its survey matches, quality ratings, and match rationale |
| Raw Survey Data | Unmodified data from each survey source, organized by job |
| Aging Calculations | Aging factors, effective dates, and formulas showing how raw data is brought to a common date |
| Blending Model | Weighted composite calculations with weights, rationale, and final composite rates at P25, P50, and P75 |
| Summary | Composite market rates by job, ready to feed into salary structure development |
| Methodology Documentation | Written explanation of matching criteria, aging approach, and blending methodology |
For government contractors, this workbook is designed to serve as the supporting documentation for DCAA compensation reasonableness reviews.
Common Questions About Survey Data
Do I need to buy survey data? Usually, yes. Published surveys from Mercer, Radford, Western Management, and similar providers cost $3,000-$15,000 per year. Free data from Glassdoor, Indeed, or LinkedIn Salary is not sufficient for building defensible salary structures and is unlikely to hold up in a DCAA reasonableness review or formal audit.
How many surveys do I need? Most mid-market companies benefit from 2-4 survey sources. One general industry survey plus one or two industry-specific surveys provides adequate coverage. More sources improve the robustness of composites but have diminishing returns past 4-5 sources.
Can you work with surveys we already own? Yes. If you have active survey subscriptions, we use those as the foundation and supplement with additional sources only where coverage gaps exist. We also evaluate whether your current survey portfolio is appropriate for your role mix and recommend changes if needed.
Who This Is For
- Companies building or updating salary structures that need current market data
- Organizations that have survey subscriptions but lack the expertise to process the data into usable market rates
- PE portfolio companies that need market positioning analysis as part of compensation due diligence
- Government contractors that need market data documentation for DCAA compliance
- HR teams posting salary ranges under pay transparency requirements that want ranges anchored to real data
- Companies evaluating whether to purchase survey data or rely on existing sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Salary benchmarking (also called market pricing) is the process of determining the competitive market rate for each role in your organization by matching jobs to published compensation survey data. The output is a set of market reference points (typically P25, P50, and P75) for each role that anchor your salary structure and inform pay decisions.
Annually at minimum. Survey data ages at roughly 3-4% per year for most professional roles. If your market rates are more than 18 months old, your salary structure is likely out of step with what candidates and competitors are paying.
Market pricing determines a role's external value by matching it to survey data. Job evaluation determines a role's internal value relative to other roles using factors like complexity, scope, and impact. Best practice uses both: job evaluation establishes the internal hierarchy through your job architecture, and market pricing establishes the pay rates. They answer different questions and both are necessary.
Standalone market pricing projects (survey matching, aging, blending, and workbook delivery) typically range from $8,000 to $20,000 depending on the number of unique jobs and survey sources. Market pricing is also included as a core component of our CompForge program and our broader salary structure design engagements.
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