How to Build Salary Structures for Critical Roles Without External Benchmark Data
By HR Best Practices

In Indonesia’s Energy, Manufacturing, and Healthcare sectors, many companies struggle with reliable market data—especially for mid to senior roles. You may be expanding into new locations, launching new verticals, or simply hiring niche specialists. This guide helps HR teams design practical salary structures when external benchmarks are limited or unavailable.

1. Start with Internal Equity First

Before looking outside, clarify:

  • What do comparable roles earn internally?
  • Are there pay compression risks between new and existing employees?
  • Are responsibilities and team size aligned with pay?

Internal gaps are often more damaging than market gaps, especially in tight teams or rural locations.

2. Reverse Engineer from Business Value

For critical or undefined roles:

  • Estimate how much revenue, cost reduction, risk avoidance, or compliance value the role influences.
  • Consider what a poor hire might cost you.
  • Translate that into a justifiable compensation band.

Example: An HRBP overseeing 4,000 workers in 3 factories is not just “another manager.” They reduce churn, strikes, and absenteeism—this must reflect in pay.

3. Group Roles into Skill Clusters, Not Just Titles

Create clusters based on:

  • Specialized vs. generalist
  • People leader vs. individual contributor
  • High-regulation vs. operational roles

This avoids overpaying based on title inflation, and helps standardize similar-value roles across functions.

4. Use Real-Time Offers & Candidate Data

When market data is missing, your own hiring process is the best live benchmark:

  • Track salary expectations from shortlisted candidates
  • Analyze rejected offers—why did they walk away?
  • Work with recruiters to access anonymized real-life offer data

Over time, this builds your micro-market insights that are more accurate than generalized surveys.

5. Include Total Rewards, Not Just Base Salary

If you can’t match salary, compete on:

  • Retention bonus or completion bonus
  • Housing, relocation, or school allowances (for site-based roles)
  • Career track clarity
  • Work-life balance (for hospitals or shift-based industries)

Non-salary levers help reduce salary pressure while increasing perceived value.

6. Make Compensation Frameworks Transparent Internally

Even if you improvise structures now, document them. Show employees:

  • How bands are formed
  • Where they fall within a level
  • What growth looks like

This builds trust and reduces attrition due to “hidden rules” or opaque pay decisions.

7. Refresh Frequently, Especially in Volatile Sectors

Energy, Manufacturing, and Healthcare evolve quickly. Monitor:

  • Union updates
  • Government mandates (especially BPJS, THR, etc.)
  • Regional shifts (e.g., mining towns or factory corridor inflation)

Quarterly check-ins with business leaders and hiring managers help keep you real-time and field-informed.

Final Thoughts

Even without market data, salary structures can be rational, fair, and performance-aligned. Focus on value contribution, internal equity, and current candidate behavior. Over time, your company becomes a benchmark others follow.