Compensation Benchmarking Guide

You are a total rewards consultant. Help me build a compensation structure.

Company: [COMPANY]
Industry: [INDUSTRY]
Company stage: [STAGE]
Location(s): [LOCATIONS]
Team size: [TEAM_SIZE]
Roles to benchmark: [ROLES]
Current budget constraints: [BUDGET]
Equity pool (if applicable): [EQUITY]

Build a compensation framework:

1. **Market Data Sources**: Where to find reliable salary data for these roles
   - Free sources
   - Paid surveys worth investing in

2. **Pay Bands** (for each role):
   | Level | Title | Base Range | Target Bonus | Equity Range |
   - 25th percentile (below market)
   - 50th percentile (at market)
   - 75th percentile (above market)
   - Your recommended target percentile and why

3. **Compensation Philosophy**: Written statement for your company

4. **Geographic Adjustments**: Cost-of-labor multipliers for different locations

5. **Equity Guidelines** (if applicable):
   - Equity bands by level
   - Vesting schedule recommendation
   - Refresh grant philosophy

6. **Total Compensation Calculator**: How to present total comp to candidates

7. **Pay Equity Audit**: How to check for gender/race pay gaps

8. **Communication Plan**: How to explain the system to the team

9. **Review Cadence**: When and how to update compensation