Why I don't like salary surveys

It’s Promotion and Salary Review Season in the Legal Sector in South Africa

Industry Salary Benchmark

This is the time of year when most law firms in South Africa are gearing up to announce promotions (or at least make them public). Alongside this, salary reviews have been finalised and increases are being, or will shortly be communicated to employees.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a few insights that may assist both firms and employees in their negotiations.

First up: Salary Surveys

Around this time, salary surveys start appearing everywhere, and—typically—the one that best aligns with what the reader wants to believe is deemed the most accurate.

Here’s the bad news (in my opinion): almost all salary surveys that people rely on are inaccurate. The data sample is often too small, or the information collected is outdated. For a salary survey to be reliable, data needs to be gathered and updated regularly. By the time a report is published—often weeks or months after data collection—it is already outdated.

Adding to these inaccuracies, law firms have different financial year-ends. Local (South African) firms typically close their financial year at the end of February, UK-headquartered firms at the end of March, and US firms on 31 December. As a result, announcements regarding salary increases and promotions are influenced by these dates, creating a hamster-wheel effect when it comes to benchmarking salaries against competitors.

Having prepared salary surveys myself, I’ve seen firsthand how inaccurate they can be—and how easily data can be manipulated to fit the narrative the author wants to present. That said, they do serve as a useful marketing tool for recruitment agencies.

Next week, I’ll share my thoughts on other shortcomings of salary surveys and why a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach isn’t the way to go.

I specialise in placing Partners and senior lawyers. If you are based in Sandton and you would like to meet and chat about something specific or in general, please get in touch.