WHAT DOES A COMPENSATION ANALYST DO?
Updated: Jan 11, 2025 - The Compensation Analyst conducts comprehensive market research to ensure competitive and compliant compensation programs. Benchmarks jobs using salary survey results, recommends salary adjustments and reviews job descriptions for regulatory compliance. Provides training on compensation practices, develops training materials, evaluates job requests, and administers compensation forecasting while participating in salary surveys and analyzing pay arrangements.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Compensation Analyst
1. Compensation Analyst Duties
- Collaboration: Collaborate with colleagues inside the GCF and a wide variety of firm stakeholders
- Analytical Support: Provide analytical support on compensation-related projects, drive complex analyses, and derive insights that lead to a larger harmonization of the firm’s approach to pre-partner compensation
- Compensation Model Design: Use analytics to support the design of compensation models for paths, including the assessment of cost implications, incorporation of stakeholder feedback, and the development of implementation plans
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate with MCLs, HR, and talent management colleagues
- Compensation Structure Review: Review compensation structures or support the implementation of new compensation models
- Benchmarking: Analyze colleague information to benchmark relative compensation across peer groups and create reporting to identify trends and outliers
- Process Digitization: Lead workstreams to digitize compensation processes across the firm
- Compensation Process Support: Support the Global Compensation Function’s annual process of setting and communicating compensation caps and structures for senior firm members
- Decision-Making Assistance: Assist in the annual year-end compensation decision-making process for some populations in the firm
- Analytical Support: Support the Retail and AppleCare Compensation Business Partners in day-to-day ad hoc analytical support and data analysis
- Tool Maintenance: Audit, maintain, enhance, and refresh home-grown Excel-based tools
- Policy Review: Work with the broader Compensation team to review compensation policies and practices
- Training Delivery: Deliver training to People Business Partners, Recruiting, and managers on compensation philosophy and programs
- Compensation Planning: Support the annual compensation planning process
2. Compensation Analyst Details
- Compensation Program Development: Develop proposals and recommendations for the design, development, and implementation of new compensation programs
- Policy Effectiveness Improvement: Contribute to recommendations on strategies to improve the effectiveness of the compensation policies and the impact those policies have on recruitment, engagement, and retention
- Market Research: Conduct research and analysis on market compensation trends, legislative requirements, and ministry directives related to the municipal sector compensation policies
- Benchmarking: Participate in compensation surveys and/or compilation of market data to assist in external benchmarking
- Compensation Planning: Manage the annual compensation planning and administration (including financial modeling and budgeting) as well as the preparation of all supporting communication materials, instruction packages, and employee letters
- Subject Matter Expertise: Provide subject matter expertise to both employees and managers in areas of job evaluation, pay equity, salary administration, and compensation structure design
- Job Evaluation Administration: Manage the administration of all Job Evaluation plans and ensure compliance with pay equity guidelines, Living Wage guidelines, and all applicable legislation
- Committee Coordination: Lead and coordinate the Job Evaluation Committee group(s) and manage the process of new job classifications, re-evaluations, and appeals
- Training Material Development: Create and maintain training materials, SOPs, user manuals, and other documentation relating to job evaluation and compensation processes and procedures
- Documentation Management: Maintain all supporting documentation related to compensation and job evaluation for retrieval and audit purposes
- Committee Training: Deliver training programs for union and non-union job evaluation committees on their responsibilities, evaluation tools, and processes
- Staff Training: Train staff and management on the job evaluation process
- Policy Improvement: Develop and recommend improvements to policies, procedures, documentation, forms, and tools for managers and employees as they relate to the Job Evaluation System
- Job Description Management: Maintain all job description records and provide guidance and recommendations concerning the development and updating of job descriptions
3. Compensation Analyst Responsibilities
- Compensation Partnership: Partner with compensation analysts, managers, directors, People Operations, business partners, and Recruiting teams to solve compensation-related business problems and provide compensation guidance
- Data Analysis: Manipulate data sets in complex ways and convey findings to leadership
- Program Administration: Engage in the research, development, and administration of assigned compensation programs and manage key stakeholders, perform analysis, and monitor program success
- Project Collaboration: Partner on special projects (e.g., process ownership, analysis, and compensation policies)
- Governance: Perform a governance role in the creation, discussion, and review of compensation policies and processes
- Relationship Building: Initiate and maintain working relationships with the People and Recruiting teams
- Professional Networking: Develop a network of Compensation professionals for ongoing knowledge of pay practices and shifting trends
- Records Compliance: Ensure that records are up to date and in compliance with collective agreements, policies, and procedures
- Cost Analysis: Analyze cost implications of developing new salary ranges and structures
- Data Interpretation: Analyze and interpret complex financial and statistical HR data
- Salary Budget Preparation: Participate in annual corporate salary budget preparation, including compensation, HR data surveys, and other division projects
- Audit Support: Assist in the preparation of external audit requests
- Special Projects: Assist with special accounting projects or analyses
- Financial Analysis: Support periodic (monthly and quarterly) balance sheets and income statement analyses
4. Compensation Analyst Accountabilities
- Market Research: Conduct ongoing, thorough market research at a macro and micro level to ensure that the system’s compensation programs are market-competitive and meet regulatory requirements
- Job Benchmarking: Benchmark jobs using salary survey results and provide recommendations for salary grade placement, market adjustment, and minimum hiring rates
- Job Description Compliance: Review and approve job descriptions, ensuring they are compliant with system standards and external regulations
- Compensation Training: Educate and train managers and employees on compensation practices and guidelines, verbally and in writing
- Training Material Development: Develop education and training material as applicable
- Job Evaluation: Evaluate requests for new, existing, or modified jobs by completing a thorough job analysis and assessment
- Comparative Analysis: Review job duties, qualifications, and certification requirements to perform comparative analyses of positions for appropriate salary grade placement
- Compensation Forecasting: Administer position review and cost analysis for the annual compensation forecast, ad-hoc requests, department reorganizations, new programs, and mergers and acquisitions
- Salary Survey Participation: Recommend participation in, submit data to, and analyze external third-party salary surveys for benchmarking
- Pay Arrangement Analysis: Evaluate, recommend, and provide cost analysis for pay arrangements used to recruit and retain employees
- Compensation Assessment: Analyze the reasonableness and fair market value of compensation arrangements
- Pay Equity Review: Routinely assess pay equity and salary compression
- Regulatory Compliance: Keep abreast of the regulatory landscape that governs compensation at state and federal levels
- Process Development: Create and maintain compensation processes that support the system’s human capital management system
- System Configuration: Responsible for completing tasks and system configuration
5. Compensation Analyst Functions
- Compensation Partnership: Partner with the HR team and business leaders in support of compensation programs
- Program Communication: Communicate compensation programs and strategies to assist business leaders in making informed decisions
- Program Administration: Participate in the development, administration, and execution of compensation programs such as compensation cycles or bonus payouts
- Job Description Preparation: Prepare job descriptions reflecting job responsibilities, duties, and requirements utilizing career architecture framework and job analysis skills
- Problem Resolution: Recommend corrective or alternative actions to resolve compensation-related problems
- Quality Control: Conduct quality control reviews for data including HRIS uploads, tool records, and mail merges
- Market Data Evaluation: Evaluate market data to determine competitive pay ranges for new and existing jobs
- Data Analysis: Analyze compensation and HR data to support and influence business decisions
- Statutory Compliance Review: Review statutory requirements governing compensation and recommend corrective action
- Incentive & Bonus Recommendations: Recommend changes to incentive, bonus, sales compensation, or equity
- Report Preparation: Build and prepare weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reports and metrics to inform decisions and outcomes
- Data Integrity Audits: Conduct audits to ensure data integrity of compensation elements
- Survey Participation: Participate in compensation surveys with relevant labor market peers
- Competitive Analysis: Lead survey competitive analysis, job evaluation, and development of compensation offers for executive and non-executive compensation areas