For decades, annual salary surveys have been the go-to source for hospitality employers wanting to understand market pay rates.
They have served an important purpose. But in an industry facing ongoing labour shortages, changing employee expectations and increasing competition for talent, many employers are finding that annual data simply isn't enough.
The question is no longer whether you should benchmark salaries.
The question is whether you're benchmarking against what the market looked like six months ago or what it looks like today.
What Is Salary Benchmarking?
Salary benchmarking is the process of comparing your organisation's remuneration against the wider market.
It helps employers understand:
What similar organisations are paying for comparable roles
Whether salaries are above, below, or aligned with market rates
Where recruitment challenges may be linked to remuneration
How to build competitive and sustainable pay structures
For hospitality businesses, benchmarking can support decisions across a wide range of roles, including:
Venue Managers
Restaurant Managers
Bar Managers
Head Chefs
Executive Chefs
Operations Managers
HR Managers
Finance Managers
Marketing and Sales teams
Done well, salary benchmarking helps organisations attract and retain great people while maintaining internal fairness and managing labour costs effectively.
Why Hospitality Employers Need Better Market Data
Few industries experience workforce challenges quite like hospitality.
Recruitment demand can change rapidly. Regional labour markets vary significantly. Seasonal fluctuations impact hiring needs. New venues open, competitors expand and employee expectations continue to evolve.
When the labour market shifts, remuneration often shifts with it.
Employers making salary decisions based on outdated information can find themselves facing:
Longer recruitment timeframes
Difficulty attracting quality candidates
Higher employee turnover
Increased salary pressure during hiring negotiations
Internal pay equity challenges
Having access to current market information allows employers to make remuneration decisions with greater confidence and less guesswork.
The Problem With Traditional Salary Surveys
Traditional salary surveys remain a valuable source of information, but they have limitations.
Most surveys follow a similar process:
Data is collected from participating organisations.
The data is analysed and validated.
Results are compiled and published.
Employers use the results for salary reviews.
The challenge is that this process often takes months.
By the time many surveys are released, the market may have already moved.
In a stable environment that may not matter. In a dynamic labour market, it can make a significant difference.
The reality is that a salary survey provides a snapshot of a market at a particular point in time.
What employers increasingly need is visibility into what is happening now.
The Shift Towards Real-Time Salary Benchmarking
Across Australia and New Zealand, organisations are moving away from relying solely on annual surveys and towards continuous access to remuneration data.
Real-time salary benchmarking provides employers with a current view of the market, allowing them to:
Benchmark salaries throughout the year
Understand emerging remuneration trends
Make informed offers during recruitment
Review internal pay structures more regularly
Respond quickly to changing market conditions
Rather than waiting for the next survey cycle, employers can access market insights when decisions need to be made.
Why This Matters for Hospitality Businesses
Labour costs are one of the largest expenses for most hospitality organisations.
At the same time, people are often the biggest differentiator between a good customer experience and a great one.
Getting remuneration right has a direct impact on:
Recruitment
Competitive pay helps attract stronger candidates and reduces the risk of losing talent to competitors.
Retention
Employees who feel fairly rewarded are more likely to stay, reducing turnover and recruitment costs.
Workforce Planning
Understanding market rates helps employers budget effectively and plan for future growth.
Pay Equity
Access to market data supports more transparent and consistent remuneration decisions across teams.
A New Approach for Hospitality NZ Members
Through the partnership between Hospitality NZ and LiveRem, members now have access to a growing hospitality remuneration dataset alongside insights from organisations across Australia and New Zealand.
Unlike traditional annual surveys, LiveRem provides access to continuously updated remuneration data, helping employers understand where the market is today rather than where it was several months ago.
The result is a more practical and responsive approach to salary benchmarking that supports better decisions around recruitment, retention and remuneration strategy.
The Future of Salary Benchmarking
Annual salary surveys are unlikely to disappear.
They remain a useful source of information and provide valuable market context.
However, as labour markets become more dynamic, organisations increasingly need access to remuneration data that reflects current market conditions.
For hospitality employers, the future is unlikely to be a choice between salary surveys and real-time data.
It will be using both.
Because when it comes to attracting and retaining great people, better information leads to better decisions.
And better decisions create stronger businesses.
