Sales & Business Development

Retaining Talent Amidst Summer Salary Reviews

Sara Carter · 7 Aug 2026

We have just started our annual salary review process and I am worried we will lose some of our top performers to competitors who are offering bigger pay rises. As an employer, I do not want to lose the talent we have invested so much in training, but as an employee myself, I know how frustrating it can be to feel undervalued when your salary is not keeping pace with industry standards. Our company is trying to balance salary increases with the current economic uncertainty, but we are struggling to find a solution that works for everyone. How do we retain our best staff during the summer salary review period when they are likely to be approached by other companies offering higher salaries?

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2 replies

Lydia Carter · 7 Aug 2026

I've found that offering flexible benefits can be a sweetener when we can't match the highest salaries. We've had success with a benefits platform like Benefex which allows staff to pick the perks that matter most to them, from extra holiday time to gym memberships.

Caroline Graham · 7 Aug 2026

I think we're focusing too much on salary as the main motivator, when in reality our top performers are often driven by a sense of purpose and autonomy. We've seen this with our own team, where flexible working hours and the ability to work on side projects have been a major draw, so maybe we should be looking at non-monetary benefits to retain our talent. Our HR system, which we built using BambooHR, has some useful analytics on what our employees really value, and it's not always about the money.