if your tender process requires it, you can start looking around for companies that you might want to work with. 

New clients usually come to us through direct contact recommendations from previous clients, or recommendations from our HR contacts.  If you are already using an HR consultant they should be able to help you find the right Reward consultancy for you.  If you are reading this, then hopefully you will also decide we are a good choice.   To be honest, we get more than 90% of our work through word of mouth recommendations.  And we have a number of HR consultancies and contacts who regularly use us to support their clients.

I was surprise though to find out from HR people I spoke to at the CIPD conference last year that many hadn't any real idea who was out there and what services they offered.  When I asked the question some years ago the CIPD estimated (but had no real evidence) that they had about 3,000 independent reward consultants in their UK membership.   At the time 300 of us were at a conference in London.   I am sure there are more now, and I am even more sure there are thousands out there who are not CIPD members.  Not a problem, so long as they do a good job and have the right experience for you.

It goes against the grain of course to plug other reward organisations, but when I speak to clients who have to go out to wider tender we are frequently asked who else they can invite into the process.  Of course the answer depends on the tender and there are a number of organisations that spring to mind.  You can choose organisations like Cendex, Croner, Willis Towers Watson, Capita, Hays or Ernst & Young - all big names in the salary benchmarking market.  Or you can chose from other organisations like us, Paydata, Turning Point HR, Innecto.   We can usually suggest other consultants that might fit your need if you are unlucky enough to be going through the tender process and need some help. 

Alternatively you can take your chances with Google.   Depending on what you put in the search box, you will get back plenty of answers.  My advice though is to be fairly specific.  Include terms like salary benchmarking, pay structures design, equal pay, if that is what you are looking for.  Otherwise you might end up wth a list of benefits programmes or recognition schemes.

And, of course, give me a call on 07415 974004 for a chat.