
Which HR platforms offer the best salary benchmarking features in 2026
HR platforms with built-in salary benchmarking are essential in 2026. Compare SalaryCube, Rippling, BambooHR, and more for your HR team.
Veteran Compensation Strategist
Andy Sims is a veteran compensation strategist at SalaryCube, a cloud-based salary benchmarking platform launched in 2015 that now analyzes more than 20 million data points across 16,000 job titles. Over a 25-year career he has helped hundreds of public-, private- and nonprofit-sector employers design fair, competitive, and equitable pay programs.
Before SalaryCube, Andy led compensation and total-rewards teams at mid-market and Fortune 500 organizations, where he built market-pricing models, geographic differentials, and executive incentive plans covering workforces in 40+ countries. Today he oversees SalaryCube's data science roadmap and authors widely cited articles such as "Average CEO Salary by Company Size." His research is frequently quoted by industry analysts, business media, and consulting firms looking for up-to-date pay insights.
Under Andy's leadership SalaryCube has been profiled by startup-data platform Tracxn as a top HR-tech competitor and referenced by publications discussing executive pay trends, fractional staffing, and CFO compensation. Andy's current focus areas include AI-driven pay-equity diagnostics, hybrid-job pricing, and practical strategies HR teams can use to counter wage-compression and skills-based hiring pressures.
When he's not crunching comp data, Andy mentors early-career HR analysts, plays jazz guitar, and explores California's northern coast.

HR platforms with built-in salary benchmarking are essential in 2026. Compare SalaryCube, Rippling, BambooHR, and more for your HR team.

Compare the top 15 compensation benchmarking companies in 2026. See features, pricing, data quality & find the best fit for your organization's needs.

SalaryCube is a U.S.-focused compensation intelligence platform that delivers real-time salary data and practical benchmarking tools built specifically for H...

This guide is designed for HR and compensation professionals seeking to modernize their pay planning processes. A data-driven compensation planning tool is e...

In today’s rapidly changing U.S. labor market, HR and compensation professionals face unprecedented challenges in keeping pay structures competitive, equitab...

Salary benchmarking involves evaluating a company's internal salaries based on their external value

Merit pay examples show how organizations translate employee performance into differentiated pay increases. This article walks HR and compensation profession...

A job responsibilities template is the foundational document HR and compensation teams use to define what a role actually does, what it requires, and how it ...

Non-exempt employees are those covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act wage and hour protections, particularly minimum wage and overtime requirements.

This guide provides U.S.-based HR and compensation professionals with actionable insights and best practices for leveraging real-time compensation intelligen...

Understanding how to calculate comp is one of the most fundamental skills HR and compensation professionals need to master. Whether you’re pricing a new role...

Non cash compensation refers to any form of employer-provided value that is not delivered as direct cash pay—such as health insurance, retirement contributio...

As pay transparency laws expand across states like California, Colorado, and New York, U.S. HR and compensation teams face a critical decision: which compens...

The average salary increase per year refers to the typical percentage change in base pay that employees receive during an annual compensation cycle—and for U...

Choosing between Salary.com vs Payscale is one of the most common decisions HR and compensation teams face when building or upgrading their compensation benc...

Organizations searching for payfactors competitors typically share a common frustration: compensation data that lags behind market reality, complex implement...

This article is designed for U.S.-based HR and compensation teams who need to understand today’s best paying jobs to design competitive, defensible pay strat...

The average HR manager salary is one of the most frequently searched compensation benchmarks—and one of the most misunderstood. For HR and compensation profe...

The average account manager salary in the United States is a critical data point for HR and compensation professionals building competitive pay structures, b...

Finding the best salary websites that deliver defensible, real-time compensation data is one of the most persistent challenges HR and compensation teams face...

U.S. organizations are grappling with sustained burnout, flat engagement scores, and elevated retention pressure since 2020-2022. More than half of employees...

The term mid senior level has become increasingly important in modern HR and compensation practices, yet many organizations struggle to define it consistentl...

RIF stands for Reduction in Force—a permanent termination of one or more positions driven by business needs rather than individual performance. This article ...

Annual personal income represents the total income an individual receives over a year from all sources—wages, self-employment earnings, investments, rental i...

This article explores the advantages and disadvantages of using salary bands in modern organizations. Understanding the pros and cons of salary bands is crit...

A cost of benefits per employee calculator is a specialized tool that helps HR and compensation teams determine the average annual dollar amount an employer ...

A job-based pay structure is a compensation framework where pay is determined by the evaluated value of each job role—not by individual negotiation, tenure, ...

HR and compensation teams frequently encounter “job title” and “job position” used interchangeably in daily conversations, HRIS fields, and recruitment proce...

This guide is designed for HR and compensation professionals who need to accurately calculate, interpret, and act on employee turnover data. Understanding ho...

Stay interview questions are the specific prompts managers use during structured conversations with current employees to understand why they remain with the ...
Job levels are standardized tiers that categorize roles based on scope of responsibility, decision-making authority, required skills, and organizational impa...

Pay grading has become more critical than ever for U.S. organizations navigating unprecedented compensation challenges. With pay equity scrutiny intensifying...

This guide is designed for HR and compensation professionals seeking up-to-date, actionable insights on average operations manager salaries in the U.S. for 2...

HR strategy goals are the measurable, time-bound objectives that connect your HR function to business outcomes. If your organization is building or refreshin...

This guide explores the highest paying companies in 2025 and how HR and compensation teams should benchmark them. This article is designed for HR and compens...

California transparent salaries have fundamentally changed how employers must approach compensation—from job postings to internal communications to regulator...

When CEOs ask “What should we pay a COO at our size?” HR and compensation leaders face a complex challenge. Chief operating officer compensation varies more ...

Compensation models for consulting firms determine how revenue flows from client billings to individual consultants, how risk is shared between the firm and ...

A market reference point (MRP) is a specific numerical benchmark—typically a percentile such as the 50th, 60th, or 75th—that represents the external market r...

Tower Watson salary benchmarking has long served as a foundation for enterprise compensation strategy, offering HR and compensation teams structured access t...

Performance management strategies define how organizations connect employee contributions to business results and compensation decisions. For HR and compensa...

When leadership asks, “Are we a 50th or 75th percentile company?” the answer carries significant implications for budget, talent acquisition, and internal eq...

A certified compensation professional holds the CCP certification, the most recognized credential for compensation specialists who design, administer, and ev...

When HR and compensation professionals ask “how much do benefits add to salary,” they’re really asking a budgeting and strategy question: what’s the true cos...

A calculator for salary increase is a specialized tool that enables HR and compensation teams to model pay adjustments with precision, transforming what was ...

This guide is designed for HR and compensation professionals seeking practical, data-driven strategies to improve worker retention in 2025 and beyond. With v...

Salary administration is the structured system HR and compensation teams use to design, manage, and adjust base pay across an organization—ensuring every pay...

Try the free Compa Ratio Calculator now — Instantly calculate compa ratios for your employees and streamline your compensation analysis.

Healthcare compensation analytics is the systematic use of data—internal payroll, market benchmarks, workforce metrics, and performance indicators—to optimiz...

The chief financial officer role has evolved far beyond traditional accounting oversight. Today’s CFOs serve as strategic partners to CEOs, managing everythi...

Sales compensation gets messy fast. Quota sandbagging at quarter-end, reps maintaining shadow spreadsheets because they don’t trust official statements, and ...

Compensation survey companies remain a foundational resource for HR and total rewards teams seeking defensible market data to guide pay decisions. This artic...

A variable compensation plan is a structured, documented framework that defines how a portion of an employee’s total cash compensation is earned based on per...

Choosing the right compensation platform can make or break your organization’s ability to attract top talent, ensure pay equity, and maintain competitive sal...

A nonprofit salary guide is an essential resource for HR and compensation professionals who need reliable, defensible data to set pay that attracts talent, s...

Finding and implementing the best employee retention strategies has become a defining challenge for HR and compensation teams navigating the 2025 labor marke...

Employee connectivity is the strength and quality of relationships employees have with their colleagues, managers, work, organizational culture, and the info...

A job grading system is a structured framework that classifies jobs into hierarchical grades or bands based on their relative value to the organization. Unli...

In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, communicating compensation effectively has become a critical responsibility for HR and compensation teams. This compre...

Employee development strategies are essential for HR and compensation teams seeking to build resilient, high-performing organizations in today’s rapidly chan...

Physician salaries represent one of the most complex and high-stakes compensation challenges facing HR and total rewards teams in the United States today. Fo...

Hybrid work means employees split their time between working in the office and working remotely—from home, a coworking space, or another location—rather than...

In today’s competitive U.S. labor market, employees increasingly expect transparency about their complete compensation package. Gone are the days when a simp...

Variable pay is the portion of employee compensation that fluctuates based on performance, results, or specific conditions—such as bonuses, commissions, prof...

A wage increase letter is a formal written document from an employer to an employee that confirms a permanent or semi-permanent change in base compensation, ...

Geographic pay differentials are adjustments to base salary—typically expressed as a percentage above or below a national anchor—that reflect cost-of-labor d...

Alabama’s healthcare sector continues expanding, driving steady demand for qualified pharmacy technicians across retail, hospital, and specialty settings. Th...

HR and compensation leaders face unprecedented pressure in 2025 when setting chief executive officer compensation. Say-on-Pay votes, mandatory CEO-to-median ...

Healthcare organizations face unprecedented compensation challenges in 2026, from persistent nursing shortages to hybrid roles that defy traditional salary s...

Pave compensation data has become a go-to benchmarking source for HR and Total Rewards teams at tech companies seeking real-time market insights beyond tradi...

Post-2020, many U.S. organizations experienced elevated employee departures during what became known as the “Great Resignation” in 2021–2022. This period tra...

This guide provides U.S. compensation benchmarks, pay drivers, and salary structuring strategies for machine learning engineers in 2025. It is designed for H...

FLSA classification exempt refers to the process of determining whether a position qualifies for exclusion from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage a...

A short term incentive plan (STIP) is a formal variable pay program that rewards employees based on performance over a period of one year or less, typically ...

Annual incentive plans (AIPs) are a cornerstone of compensation strategy in the United States, especially for managers, professionals, and executives. This g...

Performance related pay is experiencing renewed attention across U.S. organizations in 2024-2025, driven by several converging forces. Tight labor markets fr...

A salary comparison tool is now essential infrastructure for U.S. HR and compensation teams facing pressure to make fast, defensible pay decisions in a volat...

Target compensation is the planned annual earnings for a role when an employee meets 100% of their performance targets—combining base salary with expected va...

Internal and external equity in reward management are the two lenses every HR and compensation professional must use when designing, maintaining, and defendi...
Understanding pharmacy technician salary in Illinois is essential for HR and compensation professionals who need to price these roles accurately across retai...

Understanding what percentage of an employee’s salary is benefits is fundamental to accurate compensation planning, yet many HR and compensation teams still ...

Compensation studies are the foundation of every defensible, data-driven pay program. For HR leaders, total rewards professionals, and compensation teams in ...

The Mercer Salary Guide 2021 remains embedded in compensation workflows at many organizations, but HR and compensation teams using this data in 2025 face a c...

Pay compression is one of the most common—and commonly overlooked—compensation problems facing U.S. organizations today. It occurs when the pay differences b...

Are you an HR professional, compensation analyst, or business leader seeking a comprehensive understanding of CompAnalyst features and how they compare to mo...

Job grading is a systematic process for classifying job roles into defined levels or grades based on their relative value to the organization. This guide is ...

A compa ratio of 75—whether expressed as 0.75, 75, or 75%—means an employee is paid at 75% of the salary range midpoint or market median for their role. For ...

Pay structures are the backbone of compensation strategy, yet many HR and compensation teams still manage them through outdated spreadsheets, stale survey da...

In 2025, compensation philosophies have moved from “nice to have” to essential for U.S. organizations navigating pay transparency laws, volatile talent marke...

Accurately pricing a group product manager salary is one of the more challenging tasks HR and compensation teams face in 2025. The role sits at a critical in...

Production manager salary is one of the most frequently benchmarked compensation data points for HR and compensation teams in manufacturing, industrial, and ...

Are you an HR or compensation professional searching for actionable compensation and incentives examples to help attract and retain top talent in 2025? This ...

Project manager salary is one of the most frequently benchmarked compensation data points for HR and total rewards teams in the United States. This 2026 guid...

For HR and compensation teams responsible for pricing finance leadership roles, understanding the current salary of finance manager positions is essential to...

The data science field continues its explosive growth trajectory, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting 34% employment growth for data scientists th...

A merit increase is a permanent raise to an employee’s base salary awarded specifically to recognize and reward individual performance, achievements, or cont...

Burdened labor rate is the total cost an employer pays to have one employee work for one hour—or one year—including base pay plus every associated expense li...

Skill-based pay is a compensation model that ties employee pay directly to the skills and competencies they have demonstrated, rather than to job title, tenu...

Weighted salary refers to a pay figure that has been adjusted or combined based on assigned importance factors—such as hours worked at different rates, marke...

This guide provides HR and compensation professionals with a comprehensive compensation policy template, including best practices and sample language. Whethe...

HR and compensation teams searching for Radford alternatives are typically looking for faster, more flexible, and more affordable ways to benchmark compensat...

California county salaries represent one of the most transparent—and underutilized—data sources available to HR and compensation professionals benchmarking p...

A total compensation statement builder is specialized software that enables HR and compensation teams to automate the creation, customization, and distributi...

What does a chief people officer do? The Chief People Officer (CPO) is the executive leader who owns people strategy, company culture, and the full employee ...

A boundaryless organization is a company that deliberately reduces internal and external barriers to accelerate innovation and decision-making. This guide is...

Merit pay is a compensation approach where employees receive pay increases or bonuses based on their documented individual performance, not tenure or across-...
Pharmacy technician pay in Arizona varies significantly based on location, certification status, work setting, and experience level—making accurate benchmark...
Pharmacy technician salary Florida decisions present a significant challenge for HR and compensation teams operating in one of the nation’s largest and most ...
This comprehensive guide is designed specifically for HR and compensation teams seeking to understand pharmacy technician salary trends in Georgia for 2025. ...
Pharmacy technician salary in Michigan is a critical data point for HR, talent acquisition, and compensation teams managing healthcare staffing across the st...
Pharmacy technician salary is one of the most frequently benchmarked compensation data points for HR and compensation professionals in U.S. healthcare organi...
A pharmacy technician in Ohio is a healthcare support professional who assists pharmacists in preparing and dispensing medications, managing inventory, proce...
Pharmacy technician salary in Pennsylvania remains a critical benchmarking priority for HR and compensation professionals managing healthcare workforces in 2...
If you’re pricing pharmacy technician salary in Washington for 2025, you need current, defensible data—not outdated survey numbers from last year’s market. T...

Salary banding is the foundation of modern compensation strategy for U.S. HR and compensation teams navigating pay transparency laws, hybrid roles, and volat...

“I’m looking for a job that offers competitive compensation and benefits.” This phrase—or some close variant—is what candidates type into search engines, sha...

An uncompetitive salary quietly erodes your ability to attract qualified candidates, retain good employees, and maintain a defensible compensation strategy. ...

Looking for a salary increase policy sample that effectively balances employee rewards with your company's strategic goals? Discover our targeted guidance on...

This article is designed for HR professionals, compensation managers, and finance leaders in the United States who are responsible for shaping compensation s...

Surge pay is a compensation mechanism that HR and total rewards teams increasingly rely on to solve one of the most persistent workforce challenges: getting ...

HR and compensation professionals evaluating Payscale competitors face a crowded market of compensation data and salary benchmarking platforms, each with dif...

Compensation planning is a cornerstone of effective human resources management, directly impacting talent retention, cost control, legal compliance, and orga...

Pink collar jobs continue to form the backbone of America’s service economy, yet they remain structurally underpaid despite their critical importance to orga...

A compensation analysis template in Excel is the backbone of effective pay analysis for HR and compensation teams. This guide is designed for HR and compensa...

Understanding the distinction between base salary and total compensation is foundational to every compensation decision HR teams make—from building salary ba...

An HR analytics dashboard Excel template is a prebuilt Excel workbook containing linked data tables, pivot tables, charts, slicers, and KPI views that transf...

Compensation teams face mounting pressure to prove that pay decisions are fair, defensible, and aligned with organizational values. DEIJ—diversity, equity, i...

Attrition meaning in HR and compensation refers to the gradual reduction of an organization’s workforce over time as employees leave and their positions are ...

HR Professional Day is an annual observance celebrated on September 26 each year, dedicated to recognizing the contributions of human resources professionals...

This guide is for U.S.-based HR and compensation professionals seeking to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of salary benchmarking tools in 2025. Cover...

• A compensation review process is a structured, repeatable framework for evaluating employee compensation against U.S. market data, internal equity standard...

This guide reviews the best salary surveys for HR and compensation teams in 2025, explaining how to select, combine, and operationalize them for optimal resu...

Pharmacy technician salary benchmarking presents unique challenges for HR and compensation professionals navigating a high-volume, tightly regulated healthca...

A compensation policy represents the operational backbone of employee remuneration—the documented framework that transforms your organization’s pay philosoph...

Software engineer total compensation refers to the complete economic value an employer provides to a software engineer over a defined period—typically annual...

Understanding what a benchmark job is forms the foundation of effective salary benchmarking and market pricing for any organization. If you manage compensati...

Sales compensation consulting helps organizations design, assess, and optimize pay structures for sales teams to align financial incentives with business obj...

Executive compensation benchmarking is the systematic process of comparing your organization’s executive pay structures against market data from comparable c...

A salary budget survey provides HR and compensation teams with aggregated data on what employers plan to spend on salary increases, helping organizations ben...

Custom salary surveys give HR and compensation teams the precise market data they need when standard sources fall short. This article covers how to design, e...

Adhocracy culture is a highly flexible, innovation-driven organizational approach that prioritizes rapid adaptation, experimentation, and decentralized decis...

Determining whether employees are paid fairly relative to your salary ranges sounds straightforward—until you realize that “fair” depends on market condition...

Compensation objectives are the explicit, measurable goals that guide every decision an organization makes about pay—from base salary structures to variable ...

Compensation and rewards are distinct but connected levers that modern HR teams use to build comprehensive total rewards strategies for U.S.-based organizati...

Employee attrition refers to the gradual reduction of a company’s workforce when employees leave and their roles are not immediately backfilled. Employee att...

Strategic interview questions separate high-performing hires from costly mis-matches—and this guide gives HR, talent acquisition, and compensation teams 32 r...

A real estate compensation survey is a foundational tool for HR and compensation professionals in the real estate sector, providing critical benchmarks for p...

This comprehensive guide is designed for U.S.-based HR professionals, total rewards specialists, and compensation teams seeking to design, implement, and man...

Long-term incentives (LTI) are compensation awards that reward employees for sustained performance and service over multi-year periods, typically three to fi...

Implementing diversity training requires more than scheduling a workshop and checking a compliance box—it demands a structured approach that connects learnin...

Employee turnover represents one of the most closely watched metrics in modern HR analytics, serving as a leading indicator of workforce stability, culture h...

This guide provides HR and compensation professionals with a comprehensive understanding of DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), its definitio...

The salary benchmarking process is the foundation of every defensible, fair, and competitive compensation program—yet many HR and compensation teams still st...

This guide will walk you through what modern compensation consulting firms actually do, when to hire them versus using software platforms, how to evaluate pr...

A compensation consultant is a specialized advisor who helps organizations design, evaluate, and optimize their pay strategies, salary structures, and incent...

HR and compensation leaders face a persistent challenge: everyone agrees they want effective employees, but few organizations have a shared, actionable defin...

By 2026, HR metrics have evolved from “nice-to-have” dashboards to mandatory business intelligence for U.S. HR and compensation teams. This guide is designed...

Strategic compensation is the deliberate, data-informed approach to designing pay, benefits, and rewards so they directly support an organization’s business ...
A compensation philosophy is a formal, documented statement that explains how and why your organization pays employees—covering base pay, variable compensati...

Salary inequity represents unfair compensation differences among employees performing substantially similar work, after accounting for legitimate factors lik...
The FLSA exempt test determines whether a position qualifies for exemption from federal overtime and minimum wage requirements under the Fair Labor Standards...

Organizational consulting is advisory work that helps companies redesign how they are structured, governed, led, and rewarded to achieve their business strat...

Total compensation is the complete monetary value an employer provides to an employee in exchange for work, encompassing far more than the base salary figure...

U.S. HR and compensation leaders are caught in a perfect storm. Market volatility from 2020-2023 left many organizations with outdated salary ranges, while s...

The consulting industry faces unprecedented pressure in 2025. Sophisticated buyers demand value over hours, margin compression threatens profitability, and h...

Job benchmarking is the systematic process of analyzing internal roles—their responsibilities, required skills, qualifications, and scope—and matching them t...

Compensation analysis is no longer a once-yearly project tucked into annual merit planning cycles. As 2025 approaches, HR and compensation teams face an envi...

A salary benchmarking tool for mid-sized companies is compensation software that enables HR and People teams to compare internal pay against current market r...

How much do actuaries make? For HR leaders and compensation professionals responsible for budgeting, benchmarking, and defending pay decisions, this question...

Compensation strategy is the deliberate, documented framework that defines how your organization structures, allocates, and manages employee pay and rewards—...

For HR and compensation professionals, understanding the nuances of IT salary structures is more critical than ever. As organizations compete for top technol...

Compensation consultant services provide organizations with expert guidance on designing, analyzing, and optimizing pay programs that attract talent, ensure ...

The compensation benchmarking process is the systematic workflow HR and compensation teams use to compare their organization’s pay structures against relevan...

Real estate salary benchmarking is the structured process of comparing your organization’s pay levels for real estate roles against external U.S. market data...

For HR and compensation professionals, choosing the right compensation survey companies can make or break your ability to attract top talent and maintain pay...

Understanding real estate broker salary is essential for HR and compensation teams tasked with benchmarking pay for these complex, commission-heavy roles. Th...

The IT manager salary in USA remains one of the most frequently benchmarked roles for HR and compensation teams navigating technology leadership pay. With me...

Salary surveys are structured collections of employer-reported compensation data used by HR and compensation teams to benchmark salaries, set pay ranges, and...

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of Chief Information Officer (CIO) salary benchmarking for 2025, designed specifically for HR professionals, com...
Tech job descriptions are the backbone of compensation strategy for HR and compensation teams in 2025. This page is designed specifically for HR professional...

Job classification is the systematic process of organizing roles within an organization into defined families, levels, and pay grades based on the work itsel...

Job descriptions form the operational backbone of every HR and compensation function, yet many organizations treat them as static paperwork rather than dynam...

IT job titles and salaries in the United States present one of the most challenging benchmarking puzzles for HR and compensation professionals. With the Bure...

Executive compensation consulting is a critical resource for organizations seeking to design, benchmark, and govern pay programs for senior leaders. This art...

Real estate salary benchmarking is the systematic process of comparing compensation for roles like Property Managers, Acquisition Analysts, and Construction ...

Salary benchmarking is the structured process of comparing your organization’s pay for specific roles against external market data to determine competitive, ...

Property manager salary benchmarking ranks among the most complex challenges facing HR and compensation teams in 2025. Unlike standardized corporate roles, p...