How a regional university brought compensation within 5-10% of market benchmarks

A multi-campus regional university found itself increasingly out of step with the labor market. Its compensation benchmarks had grown stale, and HR leaders lacked visibility into what peer institutions were paying for comparable roles. The result: difficulty attracting top faculty and staff, growing employee concerns about pay fairness, and mounting pressure on leadership to balance tightening budgets against the need to stay competitive.

This case study is representative of several higher education institutions we have served. Details have been blended and anonymized for illustrative purposes and to protect client privacy.

The university needed more than a data dump — they needed a partner who could meet them where they were and deliver results their leadership team could act on. Working closely with HR and institutional leaders, Salary.com conducted a comprehensive market benchmarking engagement that gave the university a complete picture of where it stood relative to peers and the broader regional labor market.

The engagement covered:

• Validating existing job descriptions and organizational data to ensure an accurate foundation
• Matching faculty and staff roles against higher education survey benchmarks and regional labor markets
• Identifying specific compensation gaps and misalignments across the institution
• Delivering clear, actionable reports and recommendations for updating pay structures and salary ranges

The result was a set of tools and insights the university could use immediately — not a shelf report, but a roadmap leadership could bring into budget conversations with confidence.

With updated pay structures in place, the university established compensation programs aligned with market benchmarks — often reducing variance to within 5-10%. Leadership gained the clarity needed to support smarter budget planning and more competitive hiring. Employees, in turn, benefited from greater transparency and increased confidence in pay practices. The university strengthened its overall ability to recruit, retain, and motivate faculty and staff while ensuring its compensation strategy supported long-term institutional priorities.