Following the successful HR process design project, the Montenegro-based company approached Welora again to gain a clearer understanding of its position in the labor market and evaluate the competitiveness of its compensation structure.

As the company continued to develop its HR framework and grow its workforce, management needed reliable market insights to support compensation decisions, improve salary consistency, and strengthen the company’s ability to attract and retain qualified employees.

Welora’s task was to conduct market and compensation benchmarking, compare the client’s current compensation practices with relevant external market data, and translate the findings into practical recommendations for HR and compensation design.

Steps Taken

Welora approached the project by combining external market analysis with an understanding of the client’s existing roles, organizational structure, and HR processes. The project included:

Reviewing the existing compensation structure to understand how salaries were currently organized across roles, departments, and employee levels.

Analyzing the company’s job structure to ensure that positions were appropriately grouped and compared with relevant market roles.

Conducting market compensation benchmarking using relevant external data for comparable positions.

Selecting appropriate market reference points based on factors such as geographic market, industry, role, responsibilities, and required skills and experience.

Comparing internal salaries with market levels to identify positions that were potentially below, aligned with, or above the relevant market range.

Identifying compensation gaps and inconsistencies, including differences between similar roles and potential areas where salary structures required further review.

Analyzing salary ranges and job levels to assess whether the existing structure provided sufficient consistency and flexibility for compensation management.

Reviewing compensation competitiveness to understand potential implications for talent attraction and employee retention.

Developing recommendations for salary adjustments and compensation structure improvements based on the benchmarking findings and the company’s business needs.

Connecting benchmarking results with HR process design, including compensation reviews, career development, promotion criteria, and ongoing salary management.

Establishing a framework for regular benchmarking so the company could continue monitoring market changes rather than treating compensation analysis as a one-time exercise.

Providing practical guidance for management and HR on how to use market data when making future compensation and workforce decisions.

Welora focused not only on answering the question “Are our salaries competitive?”, but also on helping the client understand how compensation benchmarking could become part of a broader and more structured HR management system.

Market & Compensation Benchmarking by Welora: Results

As a result of the project, the client gained a clearer and more data-driven understanding of its compensation position in the market. Key outcomes included:

  • Greater visibility into market compensation levels for relevant roles.
  • Identification of positions potentially underpaid or over-market compared with relevant benchmarks.
  • Better understanding of internal salary consistency across comparable positions.
  • Clearer salary ranges and compensation structures to support future HR decisions.
  • Data-based recommendations for compensation adjustments where appropriate.
  • Improved ability to evaluate compensation competitiveness when attracting and retaining employees.
  • A more structured approach to salary reviews and compensation planning.
  • Better alignment between compensation, job levels, and career development.
  • Clearer links between market data and HR processes such as promotions and performance reviews.
  • A framework for regular market benchmarking as compensation trends and labor market conditions change.
  • Better support for management decision-making through relevant external market data.

The benchmarking results also provided a foundation for further development of the client’s HR processes. By connecting compensation data with the HR framework developed in the previous project, the company could move toward a more integrated approach to job architecture, salary management, career development, and workforce planning.

For the Montenegro-based company, Welora used market data to help the client understand its competitive position and translate those insights into practical improvements to its compensation and HR framework.

By combining market analysis, compensation benchmarking, job structure, and HR process design, Welora helped the client establish a more transparent and data-driven approach to compensation management — one that can evolve alongside the company’s growth and changing labor market conditions. Would you like the same experience? Let’s discuss!