Compensation, Payroll and Benefits for Professional Services
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
What this looks like in professional services
The parts of compensation, payroll and benefits that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Pay, Progression and Partner Economics
Where the reward structure changes shape at the top.
What this coversHide
Pay, Progression and Partner Economics
Where the reward structure changes shape at the top.
What this coversHideA professional firm's pay structure has two regimes - salaried staff on bands and progression, and partners on a share of profit - and the transition between them is where most disputes originate.
- Salary bands by grade with stated progression criteria
- Bonus linked to defined measures rather than discretion alone
- Chargeability and realisation understood as pay inputs, not the whole basis
- Progression to partner defined with explicit criteria
- Partner remuneration principles documented
- Support staff structures maintained with equivalent rigour
- Increment cycle aligned to the firm's year
- Transparency sufficient to answer a progression question
Explicit partner-progression criteria are worth the discomfort of writing down. Where they remain discretionary, capable senior staff leave at the point they conclude the route is closed.
The general method — what compensation, payroll and benefits covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the compensation and rewards strategy page. What is above is the part that differs for professional services.
Other HR topics for professional services
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for professional services, or another industry.