Recognition and Reward Advisory

In Workforce

To help ensure employees are motivated and engaged in this current working environment, organisations are re-imagining rewards and establishing a new hybrid approach to working that supports their people today and into the future. EY teams work with organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally to help them re-imagine remuneration, reward and recognition.

EY has deep experience in providing advice on all aspects of reward, having worked with many of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading organisations. Our team provides pragmatic, insightful advice underpinned by the latest qualitative and quantitative market information.

Related topics Workforce Consulting

The team

Una Diver

Una Diver

EY Oceania, People Advisory Services Partner

Michelle Gapes

Michelle Gapes

EY Oceania Reward Director

Stefan Katic

Stefan Katic

EY Oceania Reward Manager

What we can do for you

The EY reward practice offers a wide scope of remuneration advice and services, supported by Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading survey practice.

  • Our market-leading tools and insights help assess, structure and design executive and non-executive total reward packages. Encompassing both financial and non-financial incentives as part of a coherent talent strategy our service helps to attract and retain the people your business needs to achieve its goals. 
  • We help your business understand what your workforce values most about its workplace and to develop balanced and attractive reward schemes, benchmarked against sector- and industry-specific reward arrangements and structures.
  • Integrated market-leading remuneration expertise: EY’s Reward team is highly regarded across Oceania as an innovative provider of tailored reward solutions.

EY Sustainable Remuneration Guidelines (SRGs)

EY, along with Reward Value and leading CSOs, have developed and launched global SRGs at the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos.

Find out more

Holistic total reward framework chart

Client expectations

Our clients anticipate their remuneration experience will:

  • Be financially efficient and easy to administer
  • Be aligned with market practices and company performance
  • Attract, retain and engage the best talent
  • Be structured to accommodate future organisation change
  • Be compliant with legalisation and regulations.

Employee expectations

Employees expect their remuneration experience will:

  • Be market competitive
  • Be easy to understand
  • Offer opportunities for personalisation and flexibility
  • Be fair, inclusive, and transparent 
  • Be relevant to each employee’s career path, life stage and personal needs.

Our Total Reward (TR) focus areas:

EY’s Recognition & Reward professionals provide integrated and end-to-end TR advisory support in each of the following areas

  • Executive Reward

    We support organisations to develop fit-for-purpose remuneration solutions that attract, motivate, and retain talent at the highest levels of the organisation, while aligning to shareholder interests and business strategy.

    Executive reward strategy

    • Supporting organisations to develop reward principles and strategies that guide remuneration designs and decisions.

    Executive remuneration benchmarking

    • Custom remuneration benchmarks for executive roles, taking into consideration the size and scope of the role as well as the organisation’s market for talent.

    Equity and cash-based incentive scheme design

    • Designing tax efficient, legally compliant incentive schemes that drive executives to deliver their organisation’s short- and long-term business strategies.

    Non-executive directors’ fees

    • Market insights and recommendations to organisations on remuneration for governance roles.

    Governance and reporting

    • Development of tools and frameworks that enable organisations to ensure good remuneration governance and effectively report to their stakeholders.

  • Broad-Based Reward

    We support clients to develop and implement remuneration frameworks applicable to all employees to achieve the organisation’s purpose and strategy in a culturally and market-aligned manner.


    Reward strategy

    • Collaborating with organisations to define their reward strategy in alignment with their wider business and people strategies.
    • We have in-depth experience in strategic remuneration design with a human centred approach: Remuneration benchmarking for all roles

    Remuneration and banding framework

    • Designing tailored remuneration frameworks to ensure employees are paid competitively and equitably using a variety of solutions, including EY’s proprietary career banding system, CareerMap©

    Remuneration market benchmarking

    • Ensuring pay is market competitive by accessing NZ’s largest private sector database. 

    Annual market review

    • Attracting, engaging, and retaining employees is central to the organisation’s strategy. An effective annual remuneration review is a key part of this. We assist organisations with:
    •  Practical and pragmatic solutions in order to ensure an effective annual review process
    • Market aligned approach reflecting leading remuneration practice
    • Collaborative review guided by business requirements.

    Short-term incentives

    • We design short-term incentive and exempt share schemes to support the achievement of business strategy and objectives, informed by market practices.

    Pay equity analysis

    • We have extensive experience in conducting pay gap analysis and a comprehensive understanding of the factors that must be addressed in order to effect change.
    • We also develop fit-for-purpose analytical tools, that will enable you to update the data dashboard with your organisational data and perform 'on-the-go' analyses of your internal pay practices.

    Vehicle and benefit reviews

    • Helping organisations understand the value of their benefits suite and how to communicate this to employees.

    The EY People Insights Centre (EPIC) platform

    • EY EPIC survey portal provides an easy and secure platform for collecting and managing client remuneration data.
    • Clients can perform custom analytics via the portal.

Survey Practice:

EY People Advisory Services are leading providers of salary information and market trends in New Zealand. We publish survey reports covering total reward practices and market-leading insights across a variety of industries. Our database contains information for over 150,000 individual employees across a range of broad industries and job families. This in-depth market data gives organisations access to comparative information to benchmark their remuneration packages.

For more information regarding any of our surveys, please contact surveys@nz.ey.com

  • Executive Remuneration Survey

    • Executive Remuneration Survey was launched in 2009 with great success. The survey is targeted at NZ’s leading private sector organisations with revenue between $300m and $4b+, who seek a comprehensive and contemporary look at total reward practices, insights and trends for NZ’s most senior executive roles.
    • Roles:
    Chief Executive Officer General Counsel General Manager of Business Transformation
    General Manager of Corporate Affairs General Manager of Digital Strategy General Manager of Engineering
    General Manager of Finance / Chief Financial Officer General Manager of Health & Safety General Manager of Human Resources
    General Manager of Information Technology General Manager of Marketing General Manager of Operations / Chief Operating Officer
    General Manager of Procurement / Supply Chain General Manager of Production /- Manufacturing General Manager of Property
    General Manager of Retail General Manager of Risk General Manager of Sales
    General Manager of Strategy General Manager of Technologies General Manager of Other Business Unit
    • Published annually in June.

  • Collaborations with leading industry bodies

    • Institute of Directors (IoD), Directors Fees Report
      • EY People Advisory Services manages the IoD Directors’ Fees Report on behalf of the IoD in Aotearoa New Zealand. The IoD Directors’ Fees Report covers 9 directorship roles, and the survey includes information from nearly 2,000 Directorships and 1,300 organisations.
      • Published annually in July.
    • New Zealand Institute of Architects Remuneration Survey
      • The New Zealand Institute of Architects Remuneration Survey, first launched in 2019, covers approximately 30 roles specific to the architecture industry with information provided by approximately 250 participating organisations.
      • Published annually in November.
    • New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Remuneration Survey
      • The New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Remuneration Survey, first launched in 2021, covers approximately 8 roles specific to the landscape architecture industry with information provided by approximately 60 participating studios/practices.
      • Published annually in November.
    • Advertising Agencies Remuneration Surveys
      • The Advertising Agencies Remuneration Survey covers over 60 roles across the Advertising sector. This survey is conducted in conjunction with Commercial Communications Council. This survey includes information from 20 participating organisations.
      • Job families: Account Management, Administration, Creative, Content Production, Digital, Finance, Graduate and Interns, Human Resources, PR/Activation, Strategy/Planning, Studio/Production.
      • Published biennially.
    • Media Agencies Remuneration Surveys
      • The Media Agencies Remuneration Survey covers over 45 roles across the Media sector. This survey is conducted in conjunction with CCCNZ. This survey includes information from over 15 participating organisations.
      • Job Families include: Administration, Digital, Finance, Graduates and Interns, Human Resources, Media Planning/Account Management, PR/Activation, Strategy, Trading/Media Buying.
      • Published biennially.

  • Customised surveys

    • EY People Advisory Services regularly undertakes customised remuneration and benefit surveys on behalf of organisations seeking information and insights into unusual roles or 'hard to find' information both in NZ and Australia.

  • EY Pulse Survey

    • The EY Pulse Survey is designed to provide ongoing insights into our rapidly changing market. This survey has over 75 to 100 participants from over 12 different industries. 
    • Published quarterly in March, June, September,and December.

  • Industry-specific surveys

    • Construction, Building & Roading Remuneration Survey
      • The EY Construction, Building & Roading Remuneration Survey covers over 145 roles including civil/construction, traffic, water, roading, plant, quarry roles and support positions such as procurement, surveying and draughting. This survey includes data from over 15 participating organisations across the industry.
      • Job families: Asphalt/Plant/Production, Building & Interiors, Civil/Construction, Commercial/Business, Draughting/Planning, Environmental, Health and Safety, Lab/Technical, Open Space/ Facilities Management, Quarry, Procurement/Planning, Quality Assurance, Roading/Maintenance, Surveying, Traffic, Trades, Water/Maintenance.
      • Published annually in June.
    • Energy Industry Remuneration Survey
      • The EY Energy Industry Remuneration Survey covers 56 roles, from organisations in the energy sector.
      • Job families: Engineering, Health & Safety, Operators, Technicians, Wholesale & Trading.
      • Published annually in March.
    • Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Remuneration Survey
      • The EY FMCG Remuneration Survey provides market information for over 130 roles across sales, marketing, research & development and production. This survey includes information from over 25 participating organisations from the FMCG industry.
      • Job families: Customer Service, Marketing, Production and Planning, Quality Assurance, Research and Development, Sales – Category Management/Trade Marketing, Sales – Field Force, Sales – Key Accounts, Sales Route, Supply Chain and Procurement.
      • Published bi-annually in April and October.
    • National Forestry & Mill Operations Remuneration Survey
      • The EY National Forestry & Mill Operations Remuneration Survey covers over 80 roles specific to this sector, including forestry, harvesting, mill, engineering roles and support roles. The survey includes information from participating organisations in the industry.
      • Job families: Engineering, Finance/Administration, Forestry Operations, Harvesting Operations, Health & Safety/Environmental/Quality, Human Resources, Mill Operations, Procurement, Sales/Marketing, Supply Chain/ Logistics.
      • Published annually in December.
    • Top-Tier Legal Industry Remuneration Survey
      • The EY Top-Tier Legal Industry Remuneration Survey provides information on roles within Legal Firms. The survey covers approximately 30 roles plus specific professional role breakdown by years of experience. Includes information provided by 10 participating organisations within the Legal industry.
      • Job families: Legal roles, legal support roles, corporate support roles.
      • Published annually in August.
    • Mid-Market Legal Survey
      • The EY Mid-Market Legal Industry survey provides information on roles within legal Firms. The survey covers approximately 20 roles specific to the legal Industry with information provided by participating organisations.
      • Job families: Legal roles, legal support roles, corporate support roles.
      • Published annually in August.
    • Combined Legal Industry Remuneration Survey
      • The EY Combined Legal Industry Remuneration Survey combines the samples of the Top-Tier and Mid-Market Legal Industry Surveys. The survey covers approximately 30 roles plus specific professional role breakdown by years of experience. Includes information provided by participating Firms within the Legal industry.
      • Job families: Legal roles, legal support roles, corporate support roles.
      • Published annually in August.
    • Retail Industry Remuneration Survey
      • The EY Retail Industry Remuneration Survey covers 135 roles specific to this sector, across stores/operations, supply chain and merchandising. The survey includes information from approximately 20 participating organisations.
      • Job families: Operations, Retail, Strategy & Planning, Loss Prevention, Trade Channel, Health & Safety, Call Centre, Merchandising, Buying, Planning, Store Design & Development, Quality Control, Supply Chain, Supply Chain Planning, Distribution, Supplier Relationship & Procurement, Customs & Shipping, Design & Buy roles, Production, Visual Merchandising, Information Technology, Digital, Web.
      • Published annually in April.
    • Taranaki Region Remuneration Survey
      • The EY Taranaki Region Remuneration Survey analyses over 110 roles, with all employees being based in the Taranaki region. It covers roles in laboratories, geological, engineering and operations/maintenance.
      • Job families: Engineering, Geological, Laboratory, Maintenance, Operations, Project Services, Quality Assurance/Health & Safety/Environment, Support Office
      • Published annually in December.
    • Information Technology Industry Remuneration Survey
      • The Information Technology Industry Remuneration Survey provides market information on 19 job families within the rapidly growing IT industry. With over 170 IT job codes, this survey is a comprehensive data source for the IT Industry and for any organisation with IT roles. This survey includes information from 24 participating organisations.
      • The roles included in this survey are: Agile, Business Support, Data Analytics/Insights, Database/Data Warehousing, Engineering, Geography, Graduate, Hardware, Infrastructure, Network/Applications, Programming, Security, Software, Systems, and Web.
      • This survey is published annually in June.
    • Financial Services Industry Survey
      • The EY Financial Services Industry Survey provides market information for over 350 roles in banking, insurance and wealth management. We are excited to launch a brand new financial services survey, and the most comprehensive in the industry bringing greater market data insights.
      • Job families: Actuarial, Claims, Pricing, Sales, Underwriting; Agribusiness, Asset Management, Cash Management/Finance/Funding, Commercial Banking, Corporate Banking, Credit/Fraud/Audit/Asset Management, Digital/Online Banking, Economics, Institutional Management/Large Corporate Banking, Markets, Product Management, Retail Banking, Risk and Compliance, SME/General Business Banking, Treasury, Wealth Management/Advisory
      • Published annually in April.

  • Major NZ Entities Remuneration Survey

    • The EY Major NZ Entities Remuneration Survey is targeted at the top listed organisations in NZ by revenue. It provides an in-depth look at total reward practices, insights and trends for NZ’s most senior Executive roles.
    • Published annually in March.

  • REMonTAP© General Market Remuneration Survey

    • EY REMonTAP© is a primary source of remuneration data for leading Aotearoa New Zealand organisations who seek a fresh contemporary look at total reward practices and thinking. This survey has approximately 150 participating organisations providing data for over 50,000 employees, across more than 400 roles. REMonTAP© participants may view and download the full survey online and access a personalised comparative ratio report.
    • Job families: Administration, Agile, Call Centre / Customer Service, Finance, Graduates, Human Resources, Information Technology, Laboratory / Research & Development, Legal / Compliance & Risk, Management, Marketing, Procurement / Supply chain, Property Management, Sales, Strategy / Quality & Business Improvement / Projects.
    • Published bi-annually in May and November.

  • The EY People Insights Centre (EPIC) platform

    • EPIC is a one-stop-shop for people-related insights. Clients have their own account where they can see relevant market statistics with the click of a button. The home dashboard shows what survey submission or publications are coming up, as well as economic indicators (such as CPI, GDP and unemployment rate) and a view of your organisation’s gender pay gap.
    • EPIC provides and easy and secure platform for collecting, collating, and analysing client remuneration data.
    • Clients can download PDF and Excel versions of the survey reports that they have purchased. They can also view survey results online and as apply a variety of scoping factors using our PowerBI interface. Clients can also review their market positioning in a range of different ways, including by job family and career level.
       

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