Salary Increases

Compensation is one of the primary drivers for all employees. As you manage the firm it is important to have a detailed process on how you address salary adjustments. This goes beyond annual reviews and compensation committee, but explores what expectations staff and management should have on an ongoing basis. It is important to standardize positions, titles, and salary ranges for each position within the firm. This process provides individuals with general guidelines, but also allows one to eliminate the difference between a salary adjustment and a promotion.
A salary adjustment is the process of giving someone a raise for meeting or exceeding expectations at their review. A great benchmark for meeting expectations is 2.5% with increasing percentages based on merit preformance - maxing out around 7%. Comp adjustmenrs of over 7% are normally associated with someone who was underpaid in comparison to the salary ranes for that position or associted with a promotion. A promotion occurs when someone is displaing the traits of the position next in line with the employees career path.
In professional service firms managers are very dedicated to their employees and it makes it easy to provide cases for raises that would exceed the benchmarks. Although understood, one must consider the longivity of the firm and of the employees career path.