How to get started on your global compensation strategy

With the rise of remote work and global hiring, it’s now easier than ever for companies to explore new talent pools and seek out the best candidates, regardless of where they’re located.

But with this new opportunity of borderless work comes a new conundrum—how do you figure out compensation and benefits when your team is distributed across geographies? For instance, how do you know what a candidate needs or expects in Brazil? Or what constitutes a competitive offer in Greece? Or what kind of total rewards package makes sense in India? And that’s to say nothing of compliance, budgets, or equitability.

Global compensation is complex because it’s still relatively new. There are questions around equitability when thinking about adjusting salaries to the local cost of living. There are issues of fairness if there are internal disparities or inequities that come to light. How do you design a compensation strategy or total rewards structure that’s fair and equitable across geographies? 

It’s a complicated and confusing terrain. That’s why we’re delighted to launch Oyster Total Rewards, a suite of software tools and advisory services designed to help you reward your global workforce in a way that’s competitive, compliant, and equitable. By offering competitive salary, benefits, and equity packages backed by real-world data and insights, you’ll be able to attract, incentivize, and retain the world’s top talent.

A fair and thoughtful compensation structure is important for your employer brand, and there’s a lot that goes into building one. Here’s how you can get started creating a global compensation and benefits strategy that’s right for your company and your team, and how Oyster Total Rewards can help.

Building a global compensation and benefits strategy

With global compensation, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Each company will have a different total rewards structure based on their culture and values, their strategic priorities, their budget, where their team is located, legal and compliance requirements, and more. Keep in mind that these discussions will involve or impact a variety of stakeholders, including your executive team, People Ops, Talent Acquisition, current employees, and candidates.

Here are some key elements to consider as you design a global compensation strategy that’s right for your company.

Company mission, goals, and strategy: How is your compensation philosophy informed by your company’s mission, values, and culture? What are the company’s strategic priorities? What is your budget for compensation?

Thinking globally: What countries are you planning to hire in? How might local labor laws affect how you pay staff in those countries? How does the cost of living impact how you pay your employees? How will you deal with currency fluctuations and inflation? How will you keep compensation equitable across countries?

Talent strategy: How competitive do you want to be for talent? Can you afford to make generous offers to talent in the regions where you want to hire? Do you have talent attraction or retention issues? How will you link performance and compensation?

Compensation data: Where will you find reliable data across different geographies? If you discover existing discrepancies, what is your budget and timeline for correcting them 

Compensation adjustments: How often do you plan on reviewing or adjusting compensation? What kinds of events will trigger a compensation change (e.g., promotions, market changes, relocation, etc.)? How will you manage cross-border relocation and compensation adjustments? How will you maintain the competitiveness and equity of your total rewards structure across countries?

Transparency and communication: How transparent would you like to be? What compensation information will you communicate to applicants? Are there country-specific laws dictating what salary information you’ll have to communicate?

You’ll notice that these are all questions to consider rather than specific suggestions for what to do. That’s because there isn’t a ‘right’ way to do this. Each company will have to think through these questions and come up with their own answers in the process of building a global total rewards structure that’s right for them and their team.

Introducing Oyster Total Rewards

Global compensation is tough to figure out on your own. Often, it means relying on Google, candidate feedback, expensive consultations with local recruiters and lawyers, and data that’s limited or unreliable. It’s hard to feel confident about the process, or feel sure that the salary, benefits, and equity you’re offering will meet or exceed expectations.

That’s where Oyster Total Rewards can help—by enabling you to design and implement a total compensation strategy that will make your global team feel valued and supported. Here’s what Oyster Total Rewards has to offer:

Salary insights and data: Use a self-serve tool to find out the low, mid, and high salary figures for a specific role, level, and location. Create competitive offers, fix pay gaps, and figure out where you can hire while staying within budget.

Benefits packages: Choose from an array of local and global benefits packages that meet local compliance, give you a competitive edge, and provide the care your people deserve.

Equity compensation: Build and implement equity plans compliantly and confidently using our self-serve Equity Assessment Tool that proactively surfaces risks specific to each country.

Compensation consulting: Chat 1:1 with an advisor to design a compensation strategy or review an existing one. Make better hiring and retention decisions with a strategy that considers your budget and approach, economic conditions, data across 100+ countries, and more.

With Oyster Total Rewards, you’ll have the data, insights, tools, and expert advice you need to design and implement your global compensation and benefits strategy. You’ll feel more confident that the salary, equity, and benefits you offer to your worldwide team meets their needs, as well as your company’s. Oyster handles all the research and admin for you, so you can focus on growing and rewarding your global team.

Learn more about Oyster Total Rewards and give your Team Members the world-class experience they deserve.