Compensation benchmarking for Material Handling Equipment Makers: paying for welders and rigging crews
Welds on lifting equipment carry heavy loads, and rigging crews work at height away from home. Benchmarking shows what these roles earn elsewhere and whether your site pay rules are fair.
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Share your requirementsWhy compensation benchmarking matters in material handling equipment makers
A crane maker's structural welder holds a safety critical skill, yet he may earn little more than a general fabricator. A rigger who climbs a gantry on a site visit gets the same daily rate as a helper. Shops often set pay once, then let it drift, so a welder with ten years in the shop earns less than a newcomer hired at today's rate. Resentment grows quietly, and the man with the best weld record is the one most likely to receive an offer from a rival.
A benchmark does not need a survey. You collect offers made to candidates and leavers, and what peers say. You compare by skill step: structural welder, certified for heavy girders, versus general fabricator. You compare riggers by whether they can lead a lift. You write a simple site allowance rule covering days away, work at height and stay. Then pay follows skill and risk in a way people can see.
How to set it up
1. Draw up your pay sheet by skill step
List welders, gas cutters, riggers, machinists and site crew with experience and take-home pay. Separate heavy structural welders from general fabricators. Mark who can lead a lift.
2. Collect outside offers with their source
Record offers to candidates and where leavers went, with role and date. Use only figures you can trace. A narrow range is better than a single doubtful number.
3. Compare by step and risk
Match each of your steps against the same step elsewhere. Pay for work at height and heavy lifting should show somewhere, whether in the base or a clear allowance. Our compensation benchmarking work uses this method.
4. Write the site allowance rule
State what is paid per day away, for work at height and for travel and stay. Apply it to all crews. Rules they can read cause fewer disputes after the job.
5. Fix the drift
Look for long-serving people paid less than recent joiners. Decide how to correct it over time, and tell them what you are doing. Silence reads as neglect.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Compare the pay of your longest serving welder with your newest.
- Check what a rigger earns on a site job compared with a shop day.
- Ask where your last leavers went and what they were offered.
- See if work at height is recognised in pay anywhere.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach compensation benchmarking in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Usually yes, if your product depends on their welds. Their work carries heavy loads and costs more to get wrong. A written step that explains the difference makes the gap easier to defend.
Set a daily allowance, cover travel and stay, and decide how rest days after return are handled. Write it once and apply it to everyone. Surprises on pay day are what damage trust.
Once a year at a fixed date is enough for most shops. Keep a log of offers through the year so the review is based on facts, and check sooner if a key welder leaves over pay.