Compensation Consulting
For HR and business leaders who need competitive, strategic, and defensible pay decisions, guided by experienced consultants and a proven methodology.
We help you price jobs, address pay equity, design salary structures, and build total rewards strategies with the data, analysis, and guidance you need to make decisions confidently and implement them successfully.
30-Minute Compensation Consulting Session
Talk through your compensation challenges and get practical answers and advice from a compensation expert.
Our Compensation Methodology & Process
1
Compensation Philosophy
We’ll work with you to create a clear, written approach to pay that reflects your mission and values, helps attract and keep great people, and gives your organization confidence in how pay decisions are made.
2
Market Pricing Study
We look at essential functions for each role, find the best match in the market, and customize it to your organization’s size, industry, and geography.
3
Base Pay Structure Design
In this phase, we’ll build a clear organization-wide pay structure with salary ranges that’s fair, competitive, creates internal alignment, and serves as a framework for career progression.
4
Incubment Pay Analysis
We’ll review employees’ current pay, compare it inside and outside the organization based on experience, performance, and tenure, and provide recommendations and cost impacts to ensure pay is fair, competitive, and aligned with your goals.
Our Compensation Services
Every organization’s compensation needs are different. While our methodology provides the foundation, we customize our services to what you actually need right now. Here’s how we can help:
When you need to articulate your compensation strategy:
Compensation Philosophy & Total Rewards Strategy
We help organizations define a clear compensation philosophy, and then we can consult on the how, the total rewards strategy that aligns pay, incentives, and other rewards with business goals.
What you get:
A clear compensation philosophy paired with a total rewards strategy that includes base pay, bonuses, and non-monetary rewards.
Why it matters:
When your philosophy and rewards strategy are aligned, pay decisions are consistent, defensible, and easier to communicate. Your team understands what you offer and why, and leadership can make trade-offs confidently and within budget.
When you need to know if you pay is competitive:
Market Pricing Studies
We can benchmark your roles against local, regional, and national compensation data so you know exactly where you stand and what you need to do to stay competitive.
What you get:
Custom market analysis matched to your actual jobs (not just job titles), industry-specific data, and clear recommendations on where adjustments make sense.
Why it matters:
Stop guessing whether you’re paying enough or too much. Get the data and context to make informed decisions about every role.
When your roles don’t match standard salary survey titles:
Market Pricing for Complex and Hybrid Roles
We help you benchmark blended or hard-to-match roles so you can make pay decisions with more confidence when jobs span multiple functions or don’t fit neatly into standard survey data.
What you get:
Custom market pricing based on the actual scope of the role, not just the title, along with blended benchmark analysis and recommendations you can use to support pay decisions.
Why it matters:
Using the wrong market match can lead to overpaying, underpaying, and tougher decisions around hiring, retention, and internal equity.
When you need to build or fix your pay structure:
Salary Structure Design
We design (or redesign) your salary structure so every role has a clear pay range that’s fair, competitive, and aligned with your organization’s goals.
What you get:
A complete base pay structure with salary ranges, grade levels, and progression paths that make sense for your company size and locations.
Why it matters:
Employees understand how pay works, managers can make consistent decisions, and you have a framework that grows with your organization.
When you’re worried about pay equity or fairness:
Incumbent Pay Analysis
We analyze your current employees’ pay to identify gaps, inconsistencies, or equity issues, then give you a roadmap to address them.
What you get:
A detailed review of who’s paid what and why, comparisons based on experience and performance, and specific recommendations with cost impacts.
Why it matters:
Address fairness issues before they become retention problems, legal risks, or culture issues.
When you need to get executive compensation right:
Executive & CEO Compensation
We provide straightforward, data-driven insights on compensation for all levels of leadership, including CEOs as requested by their Board, using credible market data from the largest employer-reported databases.
What you get:
Benchmarking and evaluation for executive roles with organization size and revenue context.
Why it matters:
Attract and retain top leadership with pay that’s competitive and defensible without overpaying or creating internal inequities.
Most Compensation Consulting Stops at the Data
Most compensation providers give you data, but not the guidance to interpret it for your organization, justify decisions, and implement changes with confidence.
You Get a Data Dump Without Context
Market reports that show you the numbers but don’t explain how to apply them to your actual roles or what to do when jobs don’t match perfectly.
Recommendations You Can’t Defend
Consultants hand you data without the rationale or backup you need when leadership asks, “Why should we trust this?”
Implementation Falls to You
The project ends with a deliverable, but you’re on your own to figure out how to present it, get buy-in, and roll it out.
Here’s How We’re Different
We help you from defining the problem to making the decision, combining certified expertise, validated market data, and a collaborative approach to deliver recommendations that are clear, defensible, and ready to be implemented.
You get data you can defend
When you work with ERC, you don’t just get market pricing, you get customized benchmarking matched to your actual roles, with the context and justification you need to explain your decisions to leaders and peers internally.
- We map your jobs to the most accurate market data based on responsibilities, not just titles
- We pull from local, regional, or national data sources to give you the complete picture
- We explain what the data means and how to use it in conversations with leadership, finance, or employees
You get guidance that leads to action
We don’t hand you a report and walk away. We stay involved to help you understand findings, model cost impacts, and plan rollout so you can implement recommendations.
- We review results with you in detail after each phase of the project and answer questions as they come up
- We help you model different scenarios and cost implications before making final decisions
- We provide practical guidance on communicating changes to employees and getting leadership buy-in
You get a dedicated team
Our consultants are full-time members of the ERC team with deep expertise, access to robust, market-leading compensation data, and a network of HR and talent experts they can pull in when needed.
- You work with certified compensation professionals who’ve done this work inside organizations
- Our consultants have access to trusted datasets to cross-check, validate, and tailor insights specifically for your organization.
- You can tap into our broader service offerings for additional support (HR strategy, employee training, performance management)
Nicole Doria, Senior Compensation Consultant
Nicole brings over 15 years of extensive compensation experience to ERC. Nicole’s areas of expertise include the development, design, and implementation of base salary administration programs, variable and incentive pay plans, merit pay for performance planning, executive compensation, and equity and stock award administration.
Nicole has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in human resources management and labor relations from Cleveland State University. She is a member of WorldatWork, an organization of total rewards professionals. Nicole is also a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP).
Frequently Asked Questions
We typically work with mid-sized organizations (approximately 50-1,000 employees). Our clients typically have an HR leader or team, but don’t have a compensation specialist in their organization.
Organizations typically come to ERC for market pricing, compensation strategy, and structure.
It’s also common for us to work with clients on projects specific to sales compensation, executive compensation, bonus and incentive plans, and pay transparency or equity.
We work with companies with locations and employees across the country, though are consultants are physically located in Northeast Ohio and have deep expertise working with U.S.-based organizations, including the Midwest and Ohio.
A compensation consultant can support a wide variety of projects, from tactical to strategic. ERC’s consultants specialize in market pricing, salary structure design, pay analysis, compensation philosophy, total rewards strategy, and retention strategy.
Whether you’re looking to hire a compensation consultant to audit and assess your organization’s current salary structure or to develop a more in-depth total rewards strategy, the right skills and background are important.
Look for a consultant with a comprehensive understanding of the compensation field and deep knowledge and experience designing and implementing successful compensation programs. In addition, be sure to work with one who is certified through a reputable organization, preferably a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP).
Also, consider industry knowledge. Working with a consultant who has held compensation roles within organizations and across several industries can add a wealth of practical experience and expertise.
Ultimately, you’ll want a compensation consultant who can work with you and your management team to understand your business goals and develop a plan that supports them. ERC’s compensation consultants have a breadth of industry experience, extensive expertise across all areas of compensation strategy and design, and access to the most comprehensive compensation data in Ohio and nationwide.
The right compensation consultant will assess your compensation strategy and implementation through the lens of your business goals. At ERC, our compensation consultants guide organizations to the following outcomes:
- Competitive compensation that positions your organization to attract and retain top talent
- A pay structure that supports sound, data-based decision-making for hiring and promoting
- A foundation and guiding principles for establishing and maintaining internal pay equity
- A philosophy and strategy designed to effectively use compensation as a lever to achieve business and talent goals
Get Pricing or More Information
Get pricing for ERC’s Compensation Consulting services. Have questions? Speak with an expert to learn more.
