Salary Benchmarking

Salary Benchmarking for Confident Pay and Retention Decisions

Specialist salary, bonus and compensation research for Leadership & HR teams across commodity and financial markets

An annual pay review should give you confidence that your decisions reflect the market your employees could move into. Without relevant external comparisons, it can be difficult to distinguish a competitive package from one that has fallen behind, or to judge whether an increase addresses the factors that matter.

Imperium Edge helps HR leaders and reward teams assess salaries, bonus structures and wider remuneration against relevant employers across commodity and financial markets. We build the comparison around your people, their responsibilities and the businesses competing for their experience.

The research supports internal salary reviews, retention planning, incentive design and recruitment budgeting. It gives you evidence for discussions with finance and business leaders, helping you identify where closer attention is warranted and explain the reasoning behind proposed changes.

Understand Your Pay Position Before a Resignation Forces the Review

Assess compensation gaps and compare a planned pay review with the potential cost of replacement

When remuneration falls out of step with relevant competitors, employees may have stronger financial reasons to consider another employer. The first clear signal can arrive as a resignation or an external offer, leaving HR to respond under pressure.

Replacing an experienced employee can involve recruitment fees, vacancy cover, management time and onboarding. For commercial roles, disruption may also affect relationships and revenue. Salary benchmarking helps you investigate your position earlier, while there is time to assess the evidence, discuss priorities and plan a response.

Explore the illustrative examples below to see how compensation comparisons can inform a review, and how different assumptions affect the cost of retaining or replacing an employee.

Explore the pay review decisionFictional examples · US dollars

Investigate the Gap Before Deciding How to Respond

Move the salary marker against a fictional comparison range, then explore how the incentive metric changes the questions a review should ask. This is an example of analysis, not a market salary guide or turnover forecast.

Explore a fictional employee package

Discretionary Award

Investigate the award process, the role of individual contribution and the consistency of reported payments. A discretionary opportunity is not equivalent to a guaranteed cash amount.

Desk Performance

Examine the desk measure, cost allocation and individual attribution. Similar percentages can produce different outcomes when the eligible profit or revenue is defined differently.

Company Performance

Establish the business-level measures, thresholds and individual modifiers. A strong individual or desk result may not determine the award on its own.

P&L Participation

Investigate the eligible P&L, participation rate, thresholds, caps and payment conditions. An uncapped headline percentage needs to be understood alongside deductions and the platform supporting performance.

Fictional peer range · Annual base salary

$125,000 to $150,000

Grey band: example peer range · Pink marker: internal salary

Current base is $5,000 below the lower edge of this fictional range.

A gap can prompt investigation. It does not establish underpayment, predict resignation or determine the appropriate increase. Remit, performance, progression, management and the complete package also matter.

Compare a Planned Review With a Replacement Scenario

Adjust the assumptions to compare two paths. Each includes a full year of base salary plus the selected one-off costs. This models a successful retention outcome versus a replacement; it does not estimate the probability of either outcome.

Set your planning assumptions

1-year scenario · Salary plus one-off costs

Planned review and retention$131,000
Replacement scenario$188,500

The replacement scenario costs $57,500 more under these assumptions.

Annual base after proposed review
$126,000
Recurring annual increase
$6,000
One-off review budget
$5,000
Replacement annual base
$135,000
Recruitment fee
$40,500
Other transition costs
$13,000

Over three years, each annual salary repeats three times; the research budget, recruitment fee and transition costs apply once. No future salary growth is assumed.

What this comparison includes and excludes

Retention total = reviewed annual base × selected years + assumed research budget. Replacement total = replacement annual base × selected years + recruitment fee + vacancy cover / disruption cost + onboarding cost. The research budget is included in the planned-review path only. Recruitment fee basis here is replacement base salary, which may differ from actual agreed fee terms.

Both paths include full-year salary costs to make the assumed pay levels comparable. The model does not adjust for vacancy wage savings, part-year starts, taxes, benefits, bonuses, severance or changes in productivity. Avoid counting the same transition cost twice. The salary gap view is separate and does not calculate resignation risk.

All salaries, comparison ranges, fees and costs shown are illustrative assumptions. Benchmarking informs decisions; it cannot guarantee retention. Pay is one of several factors affecting employee turnover. The calculation excludes the cost of a pay increase followed by a subsequent departure and does not claim a guaranteed saving.

Make the Pay Decision Before the Market Makes It for You

Salary and Bonus Benchmarking for Commodity Trading and Brokerage

Relevant peer groups, detailed compensation research and findings prepared for HR and leadership review

A useful benchmark reflects the responsibilities behind the role. Traders, brokers, originators, analysts and operations professionals can have similar titles across businesses while carrying very different commercial expectations. We define the relevant product markets, functions, locations and competitor employers before researching compensation.

Our research examines base salary alongside the mechanics of variable pay. Depending on the brief, this can include discretionary awards, individual or desk performance, company results and P&L participation. We investigate caps, thresholds, deferral and payment conditions so you can assess what sits behind the headline package.

We present the findings in an agreed format, with the basis of comparison and limitations made clear. Outputs can include salary ranges, incentive comparisons, internal pay positioning and geographic analysis, supported by commentary on the questions your review needs to resolve.

We then discuss the implications with you. HR, finance and business leaders gain a shared evidence base for considering adjustments, setting budgets and explaining proposed decisions.

Free planning tools

Explore the numbers behind your pay review.

Explore all our free planning resources

Put Market Evidence Behind Your Next Pay Review

Salary and bonus benchmarking for HR teams across commodity trading, brokerage and financial markets

Discuss a Salary Benchmarking Project