Compensation benchmarking for Special Purpose Machine Builders: pay for judgement and site work
A builder of one-off machines pays for judgement: the designer, the senior fitter, the PLC engineer. Benchmarking shows what such people earn elsewhere and how site travel should be paid.
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Share your requirementsWhy compensation benchmarking matters in special purpose machine builders
In machine building, pay often grows by negotiation. The fitter who threatened to leave got a raise, the quiet one did not. The designer is paid like an engineer in a larger firm, or far less, depending on when he joined. Commissioning engineers go to a customer's plant for weeks and receive an allowance fixed years ago. Nobody can say whether the pattern is fair, and the people compare notes anyway.
A benchmark gives the owner a map. For design, PLC, senior fitting and commissioning, you gather offers and leaver destinations and set them against your own sheet. You also write down a clear site allowance rule: what is paid for days away, travel and weekends at the customer's plant. People then see why they earn what they earn.
How to set it up
1. Draw up your own pay sheet by role
List each role with its experience, base pay and what it actually earns in a month. Include site allowances and overtime during trial runs, since these can double the difference between two people.
2. Gather outside numbers with their source
Use offers made to candidates, what leavers took and what trusted peers share. Record where each figure came from. Treat any single number with caution and look for a range.
3. Place each person on a skill step
A senior fitter who can solve a fit-up alone is at a different step from one who needs direction. Set two or three steps per role so pay can follow growth. Our compensation benchmarking work follows this method.
4. Write the site and travel rule
State per day or per week what is paid when an engineer is at a customer's plant, who bears travel and stay costs and how weekends are treated. Put it on one page and share it.
5. Fix gaps for the few who matter most
Find the two or three people whose leaving would stop a project. Decide how to hold them, through pay, role or growth, and write the decision down.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- List who joined in the last two years and compare their pay with that of an older colleague in the same role.
- Check what a commissioning engineer actually receives for a three-week site trip.
- Ask where your last three leavers went and what they were offered.
- Read your pay sheet for any person whose pay depends on a one-off negotiation.
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
Write a clear rule covering a daily allowance, stay, travel and rest days after return. Then apply it to everyone the same way. A rule they can read is worth more than a high figure given in secret.
Not necessarily, but you should know the gap. A small builder can offer wider scope, quicker responsibility and closeness to the machine. Pay only needs to be near enough that these things count.
Once a year on a fixed date, and sooner if a key person leaves with a clear pay reason. Between those dates, keep the pay sheet current so the review starts from facts.