← HR Metrics·Compensation & Benefits
Salary Budget Variance
Actual vs budgeted salary expenditure
How it’s computed
(actual - budget) / budget
What the evidence shows
Evidence (effect sizes, priors, validity) is syncing from Principia.
What this metric can show you
Salary Budget Variance can tell roughly 22 pre-built stories — each a designed scene the data either confirms or it doesn’t. Bring your numbers and the Story Finder runs every one of these shapes against them.
specific to compensation & benefits
A real gradient — now ask if it's pointed at value
compensation · T1
Below the market, across the board
compensation · T1
One group sits apart on a decision that should be neutral
fairness-equity · T1
Pay is drifting from plan
compensation · T1
universal shapes — any single metric can take these
A few large values are doing the talking
any focus · T1
A one-time event, not a trend
any focus · T1
It doesn't track — the premise is false
any focus · T1
It's concentrated — one group stands apart
any focus · T1
Scenes are pre-built; your data is the toggle. Browse the full deck or watch one play end-to-end in The Quiet Exodus.
Run it on your data
This metric is computed in the People Analytics Toolbox on your own numbers. See pricing — posted, no quotes.
sources: toolbox:metrics-catalog
What the literature says
The measurement literature behind this signal — sourced, so you can defend it.
“Turnover lowers costs because employees who terminate usually are compensated at higher levels than those who replace them. In fact, because of turnover in some companies, salary programs add zero dollars to total payroll. However, the impact of turnover is generally more…”
— Compensation Benefit Designmatch 50%
“We do so in Exhibit 3-2 . Exhibit 3-2. Elements of the Total Compensation Framework (continuing the discussion from Chapter 1 ) [image "Image" file=Image00020.jpg] In the discussions about the projections of total compensation forecasting, expenditures normally paid via expense…”
— Compensation Benefit Designmatch 49%
“Using the same pay policy, the company would like its pay levels to be 2.0% above the market at the middle of the plan year. For our example, then, we have completed Table 11.6 to get the final market-based salary increase budget of 4.0%. If it turns out that your situation is…”
— Statistics for Compensationmatch 48%
Resources: Compensation Benefit Design · Statistics for Compensation