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Part 6 | How to use salary benchmark reports effectively
Part 6 of the Executive Series: Compensation Strategy in Vietnam — Essential Insights for Business Leaders
- “How competitive is our current pay structure?”
- “Is this raise proposal aligned with market benchmarks?”
When these questions come up — as they often do during raise cycles or salary reviews — salary benchmark reports become essential tools.
In Vietnam, compensation data is everywhere — but not all of it is equally reliable or appropriate for your goals. Each report follows different methodologies and covers different talent segments. For C&B and HR professionals, using the right data at the right time is key to driving informed, fair, and financially sound pay decisions.
In Part 6, we’ll explore the most widely used salary reports in Vietnam, highlight their practical use cases and limitations, and provide clear direction on how to apply the right data to the right pay decisions.
If you missed Part 5 — “Should Every Employee Always Receive a Raise?” — Explore here!
Key Features and Applications of Typical Salary Reports Available in Vietnam
1. Candidate-side salary reports
These benchmark reports are typically compiled using job seeker inputs (e.g. current salary, expected salary) and advertised pay ranges across job boards and recruitment channels.
Common providers:
Annual “Salary Guide” publications released by recruitment firms and online job platforms.
Strengths:
- Covers a broad range of functions, industries, and ranks
- Easy to access, frequently available for free
- Reflect live market sentiment (e.g., candidate expectations and offer rates)
Limitations:
- Reflects only active job seekers (~15–20% of the market), excluding data from retained employees — which can distort actual pay trends.
- Based on expected salaries and job ads, often resulting in upward bias.
- Wide min–max ranges make it difficult to identify accurate market medians (P50) or true market positioning.
Recommended Use:
Ideal for recruitment planning — such as setting offer ranges for new roles, benchmarking niche positions, or gauging pay expectations in the external talent market.
2. Bracket-based employer reports
Reports collected through predefined choice-based questionnaires, where participating companies self-report average pay for each role by selecting a range (e.g., “USD 500–600”).
Common providers:
Industrial zone authorities, chambers of commerce, and industry-specific business associations.
Strengths:
- Region-specific and sector-based data segmentation
- Easy participation process, reports often free for contributors
- Useful for internal communication or benchmarking with peer firms nearby
Consideration:
- Lower data precision due to range-based responses
- May not reflect nationwide trends or competitor benchmarks from outside the immediate area
- Actual payroll values not captured
Recommended use:
- Effective for spot-checking pay alignment in highly localized labor environments (e.g. HCMC industrial park, logistics industry within Binh Duong).
- Ideal for internal communications or policy decisions at the regional level.
3. Payroll-based compensation reports
These reports are built from actual salary payments recorded in employer payroll systems — not projected salary ranges or subjective candidate expectations. As such, they provide the most accurate and objective view of real-world compensation practices across sectors.
Common providers:
Typically conducted by compensation consulting firms (e.g., ICONIC’s Vietnam Salary Survey), with data submitted directly by participating HR teams from HRIS or payroll systems.
Strengths:
- Reflects both new hires and incumbent employees, providing a more complete picture of compensation for both attraction and retention benchmarking.
- Includes key statistical indicators such as:
- Median (P50) — market midpoint
- 25th & 75th percentiles (P25–P75) — interquartile benchmarking range
- Broad and diverse sample sizes across regions and industries enable cross-market comparisons — particularly helpful for competitive or multi-location roles.
Consideration:
- Requires HRIS or payroll system data submission
- Full access may require a fee — though participating companies typically receive an executive summary at no cost.
Recommended use:
Payroll-based reports are highly valuable for:
- Salary structure design and grade calibration
- Compensation review cycles and raise budget planning
- Governance-backed decisions when presenting to HQ or executive boards
- Ongoing market monitoring to support total rewards strategy, retention, and workforce cost forecasting
Because these reports are grounded in actual paid salaries, they serve as highly credible benchmarks — ideal for data-driven compensation programs that demand precision, consistency, and accountability.
Strategic insight: Let your data source match your decision context
There is no definitive benchmark when it comes to compensation strategy. The key is not simply gathering salary data — it’s applying the right data in the right context, aligned with your organization’s compensation objectives.
To develop a market-aligned, data-informed compensation strategy, HR and C&B leaders need to start by identifying their objective: Is it for recruitment offers? Salary structure design? Budget forecasting? From there, the data must be selected accordingly.
Even more importantly, no one dataset tells the whole story. Combining multiple compensation data sources — and understanding the methodology behind each — allows you to triangulate insights, reduce bias, and build greater confidence in your pay decisions.
Strategic compensation begins not just with numbers, but with clarity of intent.
Start with the right data — and turn it into action
If you're reviewing internal pay levels or designing a new salary strategy, make sure your compensation decisions are grounded in real market evidence — not assumptions.
✅ Start by participating in the 2025 Vietnam Salary Survey to receive:
- Verified salary benchmarks by job function, industry, and level
- Raise trends and pay range references (P25–P75) across roles
- Insights to communicate with internal stakeholders, boards, or global HQ
Over 500 companies have already registered for the ICONIC Vietnam Salary Survey 2025.
📍Coming Up in Part 6:
Defining Your Compensation Philosophy:
What does “Right-sized pay” look like for your business?
Understanding the market is only the first step. In the next edition, we’ll explore how to translate benchmark data into a compensation strategy tailored to your organization’s goals, growth stage, and talent direction.
Lead with data. Design with purpose. Pay with impact.
