This is if course a “how long is a piece of string question” but here is some rationale behind what charges you see. Not all consultants are the same, but we tend to do it this way because our clients like it and know what they are getting for their money.

The rates will normally vary depending on what we are being asked to do. Reward consultants generally pick up everything from job evaluation to Remco support. Our list includes:

·      Job profile review

·      Job sizing

·      Salary benchmarking

·      Pay structures design and review

·      Benefits and terms review

·      Reward strategy development

·      Performance and capability management

·      Remuneration committee support

·      “Critical friend” support

·      GPG (Gender Pay Gap), equal pay and equality audits

We even get involved in pay review implementation if we are asked to.

For things like Remco support or critical friend support we will often charge an hourly or day rate. This means that you are paying for the amount of time spent providing the support you need. We have noticed though that clients sometimes try to work out how many hours we are spending on their project by using our hourly/day rate. There is never a direct correlation because the project rate usually has economies of scale brought about by the volume of work involved.

Project rate: This is where we look at the nature of the project, the volume of work involved and decide how much time that will take us. It is usually easier with a project because there are economies of scale. Working on a project usually means that there is continuity in the workload, making it easier on the project team as we are not skipping from client to client. It is usually based on things like:



·      How many job roles are included

·      how complex is the current position

·      How involved will we be in discussions with stakeholders

·      How involved will we be in implementation

·      How quickly do you want the work

·      How much data are we going to have to source from elsewhere

·      How complex/rare is the data we need to collate

Itemised rate: Often when we do ad hoc pieces of work, such as a single piece of benchmarking, or a brief report, then the price is fixed rate. Different consultants charge different rates of course. For instance, we base our costs for single role benchmarking on the nature of the role. We charge different rates for job sizing and benchmarking a director than we would charge for a more junior role. This is because the job is more complex to assess, and the data is harder to come by. We also have additional rates for if we are asked to interview or discuss the job with the jobholder/their line manager.

Whatever the cost you are quoted, and whoever you go with, remember that different consultants bring different skills and experience. Some consultants will have worked for one of the big consultancy firms, or top accountancy firms before going it solo. Others will have worked in-house for one or more organisations and got their breadth of experience from there. What you are paying for is not always the cost of the time it takes to hit it with the hammer, but the skills and experience that underpin the knowledge of which bit to hit.