01
Map the roles
What actually exists today: roles, current salaries, the implicit levels people already assume. The gap between the implicit system and a fair one is usually smaller than feared — but it has to be measured first.
Service
Careers & Compensation
Two parts that only work together. Levels without pay rules create expectations the company cannot afford. Salary bands without levels produce decisions nobody can explain.
The problem
Signals you will recognise
- 01Every raise is an individual negotiation.
- 02Nobody can answer what do I need to do to get promoted.
- 03There are salary differences nobody wants to have to explain.
- 04Promotions happen when someone threatens to leave.
- 05Counter-offers are setting your salary table.
How it works
What we do
02
Levels and progression
The level structure: what distinguishes each level, what is expected at each one, and what someone has to demonstrate to move up — including the technical path, so progression does not force everyone into management.
03
Pay
How the company decides what it pays: a written policy, salary bands built on market data, and an annual review process the company can afford and defend.
04
Launch
A manager guide, communication for employees, and the handling of the cases the new structure exposes — there are always a few.
Topics covered
- Job levels
- Expectations per level
- Career paths
- Promotion criteria and process
- Salary bands
- Salary review process
Deliverables
- The level structure, with expectations described for each level
- Career paths, including the technical and the management track
- Promotion criteria and process
- A written pay policy: how salary decisions are made, and why
- Salary bands built on market data
- An annual salary review process, with rules and a calendar
- A manager guide and employee communication
Typical outcome
A manager can answer, without asking anyone, what level a person is at, what they need to progress, and why their salary is what it is.
Twelve to sixteen weeks for both parts together, with scope and price fixed before we start.
How it is delivered
01
Diagnose
02
Benchmark and principles
03
Design
04
Validate
05
Implement
06
Support
Often relevant for
Questions we are asked
There are several workable degrees, from publishing the full bands to sharing only each person’s own range. We lay out the trade-offs and you decide — what does not work is pretending the question will not come.
From salary benchmarks appropriate to your market and size. Where a paid survey is worth it, it is priced separately and stated in the proposal.
Levels without pay, yes — some companies stage it. Pay without levels we advise against, because bands need something to hang on.
It is the most sensitive part of the launch, and it is planned rather than discovered: who is above, who is below, and what happens in each case, decided with leadership before anything is announced.
Your company has changed. Has your organisation caught up?
The People Diagnostic establishes where the organisation is constrained, and what to fix first.