Quick Reference Guide
You have a set budget for merit increases every year. The planner works out how to split it, so that stronger performers and employees who sit low in their salary range get more, and the total comes to exactly what you have.
1. Enter your organization details
- Country. Pick yours. The currency changes to match, and your budget is compared with PE portfolio companies in that country. If your country is not listed, choose Another country, then type your own currency and, if you have one, a market figure to compare against. Leave the figure blank and the comparison will not show. The planner never converts: enter your figures in your own currency and the grid comes back in the same one.
- Total base salary. Only the employees in the merit cycle. Leave out anyone who is not getting a review.
- Merit budget. Enter it as an amount or switch to a percentage, whichever way it was given to you.
- Hold back from the pool. Optional. A reserve kept out of the matrix for off-cycle adjustments, counteroffers or mid-year hires, entered as a percent of salary. The grid is solved to what is left, so the average increase falls, but the comparison panel still uses your approved budget, because that is the figure other companies report.
- Employees. Headcount in the cycle. Used to show how many employees sit in each box.
Fields marked * are required.
2. Set your rating scale
Choose three, four or five levels, and whether you label them with words, numbers, or your own wording. If your lowest rating normally receives nothing, leave that box ticked. If everyone in your cycle receives something, untick it and set a smallest increase.
3. Set the matrix shape
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Rating and compa-ratio | Two employees with the same rating can sit at different points in the salary range. The same rating pays more to someone below the midpoint than to someone above it. Use this if you keep salary ranges. |
| Rating only | One increase per rating, the same for everyone at that rating. Use this if you do not keep salary ranges. |
| Gap between the top and bottom rating | At 2× the top performer gets twice the increase, at 3× three times. |
| Extra for employees paid below their midpoint | The same rating pays more to someone below the midpoint. At 0% everyone with the same rating gets the same increase. |
| Smallest and largest increase | Limits no box may cross. Applied after the grid is worked out, so raising the smallest pulls the largest down. |
4. Describe your employees
Set what share of your population sits at each rating, and at each compa-ratio band. Both should total 100%; if they do not, the planner flags them in red and holds the results back until they do. These are your figures, and they move the answer: a company where 15% are rated top produces a different grid from one where 40% are.
5. Read the grid
Each box shows the increase, how many employees are in it, and what it costs. Darker shading means more of the budget goes there. The four right-hand columns total each rating: headcount, average increase, share of budget, and amount. The bottom row totals everything.
Type into any box to set it yourself, then click the small square to hold it while the rest of the grid re-solves around it. The total stays on budget. Click again to release.
The most useful test. Set the grid the way you think you want it, then look at the box for a strong performer who is already well paid. That is what your best-paid, best-performing employees will actually see. It is usually lower than expected.
6. Check the two panels underneath
How your budget compares puts your approved budget against PE portfolio companies in your country. If you are holding part of the pool back, this panel still shows the full budget, so you are comparing like with like. The teal line is their median budget. The shaded band covers the middle half of them, so a quarter sit below it and a quarter above. The red line is your own budget. Switch between 2027 projected and 2026 actual.
How far your grid spreads shows how much more your largest increase is than your smallest. It gives two figures, and they are usually different:
- The gap you set between rating levels is the slider in the matrix shape panel. It only moves ratings apart.
- The gap the finished grid produces is what actually comes out. It is wider, because the compa-ratio setting separates employees again inside each rating. A 2.8× slider with compa-ratio weighting usually comes out nearer 4.7× end to end.
The panel shows the highest and lowest increases behind that figure, so you can see the arithmetic. Quote the second number, not the slider, if anyone asks how much you differentiate. Zeros are left out, because a zero makes the ratio meaningless.
7. Save your work
| Button | What it does |
|---|
| Download PDF | A one-page summary: the matrix with totals, both comparison panels, and the inputs behind them. |
| Download CSV | Every figure, including the inputs, the population mix, the full matrix and the benchmark comparison. Opens in Excel. |
| Reset all | Returns every setting to its starting value, including country, rating scale and population mix. |
| Share | In the header. Gives you a short message and a link to the planner, ready to copy into an email. |
Nothing is stored, so download before you close the tab.
What this is, and what it is not
- It is a starting grid for a discussion, not an approved plan.
- Benchmarks come from SCOPE 2026–27 participants and are marked survey. Everything else is your own input and is marked you.
- Country benchmarks are shown only where enough companies reported that country.
- The planner is in beta. We are still refining it, and we would welcome your feedback.
Questions about the figures behind the benchmarks can go to the Insightory team at scope@insightory.com.
